Free trade and women in business: Women's organizations can make a difference

2008 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Our objective in this paper is to bring to the attention of businesswomen's organizations in Latin America the importance of collecting data on the increasing participation of women in the economy as entrepreneurs and managers. Why is collecting this data important? As we will discuss in this paper, there are two reasons why having this data matters. First, we anticipate that women's gains in education and the labor market should put them in a good position to benefit from business opportunities opened by free trade. However, free trade also brings challenges to women entrepreneurs. Having the data will allow us to measure the net effect of free trade on women entrepreneurs. And, because governments do not necessarily collect this data, it is important for women's organizations to do so. Second, women's organizations in Canada and the United States have already provided an example of why it is important for them to compile data that the government may not be collecting. These organizations have used data that demonstrate the impact of women in business on the economy to successfully lobby legislators to pass policies that benefit women in business. Women's organizations in Latin America can use data they collect in the same way.

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