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WP.6, ToS-GRS, 6 November 2024
The impact of non-tariff measures on women’s e-commerce businesses in developing countries
Link to the PowerPoint presentation
Speaker bio
Mariangela Linoci is Economic Affairs Officer in the Trade, Gender and Development Programme of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she works on numerous analytical and programmatic aspects relating to the area of trade and gender.
In her current role, she manages UNCTAD’s e-learning programme on trade and gender, investigates women's roles in cross-border trade in sub-Saharan Africa, and analyzes the impact of gender provisions in trade agreements. Additionally, she supports gender mainstreaming efforts across the different areas of work of UNCTAD’s Division on International Trade and Commodities.
Prior to her current appointment, Mariangela worked on several development-related issues. Her experience includes assignments with the private sector, non-governmental organizations in Latin America, and with other UN entities, including UN Women in Vietnam, UNIDO, IOM and OCHA.
She holds Master’s Degrees in International Relations from the Cattolica University’s Postgraduate School of Economics and International Relations in Milan, and in Humanities and Political Science from the University of Milan.
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Summary of the presentation
In 2019 e-commerce represented about 30% of global GDP, valued at 26.7 trillion dollars. MSMEs leveraging e-commerce experience faster growth and higher survival rates. But there are some challenges related to internet access, limited digital skills, logistics, payment systems, and ICT security among potentially others.
Women owned businesses are often MSMEs and often over-represented in low-value added sectors. E-commerce represents an opportunity for such smaller businesses and provides flexibility to manage their time and requires lower capital upfront. E-commerce platforms often offer tools that facilitate business management and approaching other markets; they sometimes even integrate online learning, making it easier to obtain entrepreneurship skills. In this way, e-commerce platforms could help empower women owned MSMEs to approach other markets.
There are some challenges though. The digital aspects (including cybersecurity) could be a barrier. The platforms may help to enter low-value added sectors to the market, but these often lack scale and it might trap them into an informal sector (like handicrafts) which helps at first, but doesn’t allow to grow afterwards.
Non-tariff measures (NTMs, measures which define the product requirements which are not necessarily a barrier to trade, but could be) are increasing; within a decade, there have been over 5000 new NTMs notified to the World Trade Organization. NTMs are not different for e-commerce businesses, though they could have a higher impact as these businesses have easier access to international markets. NTMs come at a cost to companies: the indirect cost of learning how they relate to the business’ products, the direct cost of complying with the measures, the direct cost of testing and conformity measures and the indirect time-related costs. This cost can be a higher burden for MSMEs due to their smaller firm size. The company size is one of the root causes of the main issues facing women owned businesses. Next generation NTMs related to data privacy rules, cybersecurity and cross-border data flow regulations can present a specific challenge for MSMEs (cost and training).
Women owned businesses are often in less profitable sectors like agriculture and textiles where NTMs are more prevalent. The cost of compliance can have a greater impact than onother sectors; the fixed cost related to compliance tend to be higher. There can also be challenges with border clearance time due to gendered traditions. Next generation NTMs pose specific challenges to learn about the digital trends.
NTMs can provide some benefits, specifically to the general areas where women’s e-commerce businesses operate. For example, NTMs on agricultural and food sector may foster trade and build confidence in foreign products (as they must comply with strict requirements).
Moving forward, domestic policy reforms addressing gender-specific barriers in e-commerce (digital divide, digital skills development) could be enhanced. Frameworks that reduce NTM burdens and create a conducive environment for women entrepreneurs in e-commerce (improving sources of information on market access, simplifying and harmonizing trade rules, creating channels to report complaints) could also be explored.
A question was raised concerning the data used for this study, if it was primary data or secondary data, and if there is any statistics on rural versus urban areas of establishment of such women businesses (the reasons for trading being possibly different). The data used was secondary, from the World Bank Enterprise Survey and there was no distinction between rural and urban; however, all the data was focused on formal trade -not addressing informal) as the study was about meeting NTM requirements.
A question was raised concerning the access to information as this can be a huge barrier to women owned e-commerce businesses, if there are any initiatives, platforms or frameworks to provide information on market access. The role of e-commerce platforms can help to navigate the complexities and regulations; the platforms are often positive in this way, helping to access markets and understand the rules; however, the cost may be prohibitive for some smaller businesses.
A question was raised on the explanations of the longer processing times at borders. More information on this could be found in the World Bank data.
A question was raised if there were comparisons between e-commerce businesses and traditional businesses and if the difficulties faced by women are similar in both cases, or if there are aspects specific to e-commerce businesses. The e-commerce does help to actually open opportunities; studies have shown though that the patterns and outcomes remain the same for both types of businesses.
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