Conversations about gender in government policies are never easy—and when they intersect with a country’s trade interests, the challenge becomes even greater.
India has taken an important step in advancing this dialogue by including a chapter on ‘Trade and gender equality’ in its Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the UK, signalling a shift towards a gender-responsive and inclusive trade regime.
This is the first time India has included a dedicated provision on gender in the context of a free trade agreement.
The chapter provides a framework for identifying constraints faced by women and addressing their specific requirements, enabling equitable access to benefits and opportunities arising from the CETA.
From a broader perspective, this marks a significant policy evolution for India.
For years, the country has treated links between inclusivity and trade with caution, concerned that complex compliance burdens could disrupt exports. India refrained from the 2017 World Trade Organization discussions on gender and trade in Buenos Aires, taking a calibrated stand that while it fully supports gender equality, it was not yet ready to integrate it meaningfully into its trade policy.
Since then, however, the global momentum for gender-responsive trade has grown.
Today, about 130 WTO members and five observers participate in the WTO informal working group on trade and gender.
Data shows 153 countries— developed and developing alike—have signed at least one regional trade agreement containing gender provisions. India has also come a long way since the Buenos Aires meeting.
Digital growth, the rise of services exports, and rapid expansion of women-owned enterprises are reshaping its trade landscape.
The Economic Survey 2025 notes the surge in women-led startups and doubling of the female workforce in the previous seven years, largely driven by rural women.
Women today own about a fifth of India’s smaller enterprises—a remarkable figure, but one marking an enormous untapped potential as well.
Other challenges persist. A 2025 report by the Small Industries Development Bank points to a 35 percent credit gap for women entrepreneurs.
Many lack collateral and credit history. Cultural barriers and restricted financial networks also constrain women from scaling their businesses.
The pandemic highlighted these vulnerabilities with its devastating impact on women-dominated sectors like retail, hospitality and tourism, underscoring the precarity of women entrepreneurs.
Studies consistently show that narrowing the gender gap in entrepreneurship could add trillions of dollars to the global GDP.
Trade has the power to transform women’s lives by creating better jobs, raising wages, and opening doors to entrepreneurship and professional growth.
India has been advancing policies that prioritise women-led development, including expanding financial inclusion, making logistics and trade facilitation more gender-responsive, investing in skill development, and strengthening social protection and care infrastructure.
This vision was powerfully articulated in the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration. The gender chapter in the India-UK CETA builds on this vision. It identifies barriers that restrict women’s access to markets and highlights gaps in trade-related gender data that limit effective monitoring.
To address these, it proposes joint initiatives such as trade missions, leadership and networking exchanges, financial inclusion measures, and skill-building programmes.
To prioritise key areas such as enhancing the competitiveness of women-led enterprises, supporting women in labour-intensive sectors, and addressing the digital gap and technical barriers, the considerations have been cross-referenced in the relevant CETA chapters like those on digital trade, innovation, government procurement, and development cooperation.
The agreement also provides for collaboration with other developing countries and in multilateral forums to support women workers in global supply chains. Importantly, the CETA also sets up a trade and gender equality working group for engagement with women stakeholders, and a monitoring and evaluation system to track progress.
Together with ongoing government efforts in logistics, transport, customs, and trade facilitation, the working group can provide the insights needed to design solutions that work.
FTAs with aspirational provisions must guard against the risk of unintended trade barriers and legal consequences. So, here lies India’s strategic win: the country has achieved an inclusive FTA that reflects its aspirational policy direction, while carefully sidestepping binding enforcement or dispute settlement provisions.
Considering that many contemporary UK and EU FTAs with other emerging economies include stringent compliance mechanisms for trade sustainability provisions, India’s ability to negotiate its way out of such requirements— while preserving the policy space to pursue inclusivity on its own pace, terms, and aligned with its domestic priorities and capacities is pioneering.
In doing so, India has set a model for the Global South—a measured, step-by-step approach to inclusive trade that balances ambition with sovereignty. It is a promising beginning towards sustainable, inclusive, and balanced trade alliances.
Indu C Nair | Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce; Chief Accounts Officer, Indian Railways
(Views are personal)