Elisabeth van Lieshout presents her paper co-authored with Jane Korinek (both of OECD) looking at gendered variations in export behaviour of firms.
Businesses led by women are less likely to export to foreign markets than those led by men. This gender export gap has distributive implications as women-led firms are not able to take equal advantage of the scale and productivity benefits of international trade. We examine this phenomenon using data from almost 10,000 businesses surveyed on Facebook. The results show that both sector and firm size contribute to the observed difference but cannot fully explain it, and also reveal other gendered variation in export behaviour. We explore the challenges that women entrepreneurs face when exporting and review some of the policy levers and programs governments can use to support increased trade by women.