Happenings

Female Ambassador in Namibia Calls for Better Policies to Empower Women Trade

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Future Females’ Ambassador and Akoma Trading Co-Founder, Beatrice Schultz believes that one way to empower women and achieve the fifth SDG is to advocate trade openness, which involves tariff liberalization and efficient operation at border posts.

Speaking on ways to improve and enhance solutions for achieving the United Nations fifth Sustainable Development Goals which calls for gender equality and empowering women and girls, The Namibian Trade Forum featured Beatrice Schultz in their latest Weekly Trade Talk, who posited that if that is achieved, women’s welfare would be enhanced.

According to Schultz, the biggest challenge women face is paying the import duty when they import stock or goods for consumption, while also highlighting the barriers that prevent women from exporting goods in a long list that includes logistical, domestic and foreign administration, border constraints, financial risk, market knowledge, financing and cash flow, and intellectual property questions.

Schultz wrote that “tariff liberalization would lower the costs for women consumers and improve their welfare”

Revealing the available gender gap, she referred to the textile sector where the tariff burden on women’s apparel was US$2,77 billion higher than on men’s clothing, a gap which grew by 11% in real terms between 2006 and 2016. it is in this light that she recommended better policies which she believes can help women overcome the challenges of trade and maximize their benefits.

“…For women to benefit; policymakers need to actively address the challenges that trade itself can create while introducing complementary policies that enable women to fully participate in the economy” she said.

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