Trade and Gendered Labor Outcomes: Evidence from Changing Export Demand in Indonesia
Authors
Donny Pasaribu
Ridho Al Izzati
We present new evidence on the gendered consequences of trade, explicitly examining shifts in foreign demand. We construct mean-aggregated local labor-market outcomes for women at the provincial level. Our two-stage least-squares (2SLS) approach suggests that an increase in foreign demand shock has a limited impact on reducing gender gaps and minor adverse effects on total employment. Resource-based sectors, typically male-dominant sectors, primarily drive this adverse employment effect. Further investigation reveals that the most affected women workers are characterized as married and less educated. These results offer crucial insights into trade and women’s empowerment: relying on resource-based commodities does little to empower women and trade policies should not focus solely on export activities in their narratives.
Joseph Marshan
