• Women account for 70% of the world’s poor (ITC, “Empowering women, powering trade”, 2010).
• Women comprise between 53% and 90% of the employed in most export sectors in middle-income developing countries. This highlights that trade may be creating new opportunities for women in the developing world (OECD, “Trade and gender: issues and interactions”, 2005). • Out of the 3 billion people who were employed around the world in 2008, 1.2 billion are women (ILO, “Global employment trends for women”, 2009). • The services sector now provides the majority of female jobs whereas ten years ago agriculture was the main employer of women (ILO, “Global employment trends for women”, 2009). • Women own 1% of world’s wealth, have a 10% share in global income and occupy 14% of leadership positions in the private and public sector (ITC, “Empowering women, powering trade”, 2010).
• Women produce between 60% and 80% of the food in poorer countries and grow half of the world’s food overall (FAO). |