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The Effect of Trade Openness on Women's Welfare and Work Life

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  • Bussmann, Margit

Abstract

Summary This study of 134 countries analyzes whether women are generally the losers or winners of globalization. The results show that economic integration does not directly improve women's life expectancies. Women's access to primary and secondary education may improve slightly, although women's welfare does not seem to improve more than that of men. On the other hand, economic integration does influence women's professional lives. In developing countries, trade openness increases female labor force participation; in industrialized states, it decreases the share of working women. Trade openness in developed countries increases the number of women employed in the service sector, while in developing states it increases the number of women working in industrial jobs and in agriculture.

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  • Bussmann, Margit, 2009. "The Effect of Trade Openness on Women's Welfare and Work Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1027-1038, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:37:y:2009:i:6:p:1027-1038
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    2. Ali Fakih & Pascal Ghazalian, 2015. "Female employment in MENA’s manufacturing sector: the implications of firm-related and national factors," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 37-69, February.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Uchenna Efobi & Belmondo V. Tanankem & Evans S. Osabuohien, 2019. "Globalisation and Female Economic Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 19/005, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).
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    5. Asrifa Hossain & Shankar Ghimire & Anna Valeva & Jessica Harriger-Lin, 2022. "Does Globalization Encourage Female Employment? A Cross-Country Panel Study," World, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2010. "Good for Living? On the Relationship between Globalization and Life Expectancy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1191-1203, September.
    7. Hauck, K. & Martin, S. & Smith, P.C., 2016. "Priorities for action on the social determinants of health: Empirical evidence on the strongest associations with life expectancy in 54 low-income countries, 1990–2012," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 88-98.
    8. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2009. "Good for living? On the relation between globalization and life expectancy," Working Papers 2009:9, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Uchenna R. Efobi & Belmondo V. Tanankem, 2017. "On the Relationship between Globalisation and the Economic Participation of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 17/001, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    10. Lv, Zhike & Yang, Rudai, 2018. "Does women’s participation in politics increase female labor participation? Evidence from panel data analysis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 35-38.
    11. Jacob Novignon & Yaw Boateng Atakorah & Gbetoton Nadege Djossou, 2018. "How Does the Health Sector Benefit from Trade Openness? Evidence from Sub‐Saharan Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 135-148, June.
    12. Filipski, Mateusz & Edward Taylor, J. & Msangi, Siwa, 2011. "Effects of Free Trade on Women and Immigrants: CAFTA and the Rural Dominican Republic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1862-1877.
    13. Bárcena‐Martín, Elena & Medina‐Claros, Samuel & Pérez‐Moreno, Salvador, 2020. "Economic gender gap in the Global South: how institutional quality matters," MERIT Working Papers 2020-025, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
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    15. Muhammad Tariq Majeed, 2018. "Quality of Life and Globalization: Evidence from Islamic Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 709-725, September.
    16. Aboohamidi, Abbas & Chidmi, Benaissa, 2013. "Female Labor Force Participation in Pakistan and Some MENA Countries," 2013 Annual Meeting, February 2-5, 2013, Orlando, Florida 143097, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    17. Ahmed, Salma & Feeny, Simon & Posso, Alberto, 2015. "What firm characteristics determine women’s employment in manufacturing? Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 84492, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "Export Product Quality and Inclusivity in Developing Countries," EconStor Preprints 274651, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    19. Chesnokova, Tatyana & Rupa, Jesmin & Sim, Nicholas, 2015. "Export Exposure and Gender Specific Work Participation in Indonesia," CEI Working Paper Series 2015-3, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    20. Burak Sencer Atasoy, 2017. "Female Labour Force Participation in Turkey: The Role of Traditionalism," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(4), pages 675-706, August.
    21. Tatyana Chesnokova & Jesmin Rupa & Nicholas Sim, 2015. "Export Exposure and Gender Specific Work Participation in Indonesia," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2015-16, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    22. Md. Samsul Alam & Syed Ali Raza & Muhammad Shahbaz & Qaisar Abbas, 2016. "Accounting for Contribution of Trade Openness and Foreign Direct Investment in Life Expectancy: The Long-Run and Short-Run Analysis in Pakistan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 1155-1170, December.

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