The Lao Government has also madeimportant commitments to gender equality in both itsnational socio-economic development planning and in a numberof international agreements. Through mapping the genderdimensions of trade in Lao PDR, this report aims to draw outkey inter-linkages between a more open trade policy andgender. Recent export performance in Lao has been strong andmostly driven by hydro-electricity and minerals, whichconstituted more than half of all exports in 2010 and arepredicted to grow even more in the next few years. To betterunderstand the interaction between gender and trade policy,this paper presents a gender mapping exercise for exportdevelopment in Lao PDR and in this regard presents simplerecommendations on how to undertake this type of exercise.The paper is split in two parts: the first sketches out asimple methodological framework that can be used byresearchers to do an initial mapping of theinter-relationships between export promotion/trade policyand gender. The second part of the paper is aimed primarilyat policy makers. It uses the framework to provide adiagnostic which examines: 1) sectors in Lao with potentialfor export expansion that could benefit women; 2)gender-based constraints in these sectors which limit theirexpansion through trade; and 3) potential impacts for women,both positive and negative, from an increase in Lao'snatural resource exports.
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