Project 5 will generate three country case studies on the impact of trade liberalization in India, South Africa, and Brazil, particularly also emphasizing how trade affects employment opportunities for poorer women in these contexts. Two comparative papers will be generated on the role of global value chains and trade liberalization policies for female employment.

Do globalization and trade openness improve women's economic empowerment? Trade openness can greatly affect the link between growth, structural change, and female employment, as discussed in project 1. There is a controversial literature ranging from Standing?s (1999) hypothesis of global feminization through flexible labor to arguments suggesting that openness destroys jobs for women. We first analyze the contribution of women and men in developing countries to value added in global manufacturing and services, building on work such as Johnson and Noguera (2012). We will show how global production fragmentation has affected women?s share in value added, and analyze this for three educational groups to shed light on the role of women in low-income segments of the population. Second, we consider the causal impact of trade policies on women's employment and earnings. Building on work by Gaddis and Pieters (2014), we analyze the impact of import liberalization on female labor market outcomes in India, South Africa, and Brazil. Comparing these cases willhelp understand to what extent trade policy impacts depend on initial economic structure and income level, and how results might apply to other country contexts. Expected impacts in low-income contexts will further be assessed through analyses of different population segments (according to age, education, income group, race or caste) and leading versus lagging regions.