Highlights
Read this chapter to:
- Discover how economic corridor and logistics projects shape trade, employment, and gender inclusion across borders.
- Understand the specific barriers women face in mobility, safety, and career advancement in the logistics and trade sectors.
- Learn about targeted strategies and interventions that enhance women’s participation, from safe transport access to leadership programs and entrepreneurship support.
- Explore real-world case studies and practical solutions for creating more inclusive, efficient, and competitive economic corridors.
Overview:
The economic corridor sector primarily operates through land ports, logistics facilities, dry ports, and warehouses to facilitate international trade and commerce.
At land ports, customs officers, documentation specialists, and operations managers coordinate with cargo handlers and equipment operators to manage goods movement. Logistics operations rely on freight forwarders and customs brokers who work as intermediaries between traders and authorities, while warehouse operations involve inventory managers and forklift operators handling the storage and movement of goods.
The sector offers diverse roles, from entry-level positions in cargo handling to specialized jobs in customs brokerage and senior management. With increasing digitalization, new positions have emerged in information technology (IT) systems and electronic documentation. This work requires coordination between multiple stakeholders while ensuring regulatory compliance and security across borders.
Economic corridor projects aim to improve transport efficiency and safety on critical trade routes, enhancing trade and connectivity. They involve institutional strengthening, capacity building, customs modernization, trade facilitation, road safety enhancements, and infrastructure improvements. Investments may include modernizing land ports and developing port and logistics facilities. These projects also seek to reduce trade costs, boost transport efficiency, and foster regional market access and investment, promoting economic growth and regional integration.
Mobility
The lack of mobility options in economic corridors significantly impacts women’s participation in the transport and logistics sectors, influencing their access to employment opportunities, ability to meet job requirements, and personal safety.
These challenges play crucial roles in shaping women’s entry, retention, and advancement in the industry, ultimately affecting overall gender dynamics.
🚌 Availability
Availability of transport poses significant challenges for women in economic corridors. The remote locations of economic corridors, often far from urban centers, present serious mobility constraints for women in this sector. These professionals often have no choice but to be physically present at land ports, customs stations, and logistics facilities to ensure proper communication regarding cargo shipments and to build relationships with government officials for efficient clearance processes.
The scarcity of readily available public transportation and safer travel modes thus disproportionately affects women traders, freight forwarders, and custom brokers, who typically rely more on such means rather than personal vehicles. Due to long commutes, many women traders and custom brokers often choose jobs and skill training opportunities closer to their homes, potentially opting out of logistics sector jobs despite their qualifications or interest. Table 7.1 highlights some key interventions to address availability of transport for women in economic corridor projects, along with the corresponding indicators.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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Assessment to understand differentiated mobility barriers women and men traders, customs brokers, and logisticians face in navigating their way to and from ports, customs stations, and other critical facilities.
| A survey to collect and analyze data about travel patterns, frequency, modes of transportation, trip purposes, travel times, and distances, broken down by sex and other demographic and socioeconomic factors. |
Availability of public transportation: Provide public transit services linking urban centers to remote economic corridor hubs. This could include scheduled bus services and dedicated shuttles to serve key transit points along the corridor. |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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💰 Affordability
Affordability emerges as another related barrier. The high cost of private transport options to reach remote work sites such as land ports and customs stations significantly impact women's operational expenses. This financial burden can affect their long-term competitiveness and sustainability in the industry, potentially discouraging women from seeking or retaining positions in these sectors. Enhancing the availability of public transport services eases the burden for women traders, women logistics service providers, and women staff working at border areas. Table 7.2 highlights some key interventions to address affordability of transport for women in economic corridor projects, along with the indicators.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
|---|---|
| Introduce subsidized transport passes for women involved in the logistics sector, including women traders, freight forwarders, customs brokers, and staff working in economic corridors. | Number of women benefiting from transport subsidies. |
| Establish shared transport services specifically designed for women, such as shared shuttles or vanpooling services to connect remote work sites (e.g., ports, customs stations, industrial parks). | Number of women benefiting from transport routes serving economic corridor hubs. |
OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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🧑🦯 Accessibility
Women face multiple accessibility barriers in economic corridor projects, largely due to the remote and male-dominated nature of the infrastructure involved—such as land ports, customs stations, logistics hubs, and warehouses. These sites often lack adequate facilities like safe and hygienic restrooms, well-lit waiting areas, and designated spaces for women, making them less accessible and more intimidating for female professionals and entrepreneurs. Navigating these spaces can be especially difficult for women unfamiliar with the area or those traveling alone.
Inadequate signage, limited availability of travel information, and poor digital connectivity further restrict women’s ability to independently access and navigate these locations. The absence of rest areas, emergency support systems, and basic amenities disproportionately affects women traders, customs brokers, and logistics workers, discouraging them from participating fully in corridor-related economic activities. Table 7.3 highlights some key interventions to address accessibility barriers for women in economic corridor projects, along with the indicators.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
|---|---|
| Infrastructure: Develop safe rest areas, well-lit waiting areas, hygienic restrooms and changing rooms at land ports, customs stations, logistics hubs, and warehouses. |
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| Digital Connectivity and Information: Improve access to digital services such as route maps, station information, real-time transport updates, and digital helpdesks to help women navigate these areas independently. |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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🚨 Safety and Personal Security
Safety concerns also pose one of the most significant mobility constraints in economic corridors. Women traders, custom brokers, and freight forwarders may be reluctant to commute due to safety issues, particularly when jobs involve traveling to remote or perceived high-risk locations such as land ports, warehouses and inland container depots. Long commute times, unsafe public transport, and unfamiliarity with new areas present additional challenges. The requirement for late-night work, such as visiting logistics facilities at the ports for timely shipment clearance, can be particularly problematic. The lack of gender-sensitive infrastructure heightens the perception of vulnerability and fear of sexual harassment in these isolated locations poses a significant concern. The absence of women marshals, and staff further exacerbates these issues. Table 7.4 highlights some key interventions.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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Employment
Despite its vital role in the economy, the economic corridor sector often exhibits significant gender disparities in formal employment.
Women are underrepresented in leadership positions, technical roles, and unskilled and semi-skilled jobs. This gap between women and men can be attributed to societal stereotypes, discriminatory practices, and limited access to training and resources. These barriers significantly impact women’s career advancement and earning potential in this sector.
🤝 Outreach and Recruitment
The attraction and recruitment of women in economic corridors face multifaceted challenges that begin even before the hiring process. The prevailing view of the sector as male-dominated deters many women from considering it a viable career option. This perception is often reinforced by the visible lack of female representation in various roles, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of low female participation. The limited awareness of diverse job roles within the sector further exacerbates this issue. Many women, particularly those from less privileged backgrounds or rural areas, may be unaware of the opportunities available in logistics, supply chain management, freight forwarding, and customs brokerage. This information gap is widened by the persistent digital gender divide, where women often have less access to digital resources and platforms that could inform them about potential career paths. The lack of awareness of specific job roles significantly contributes to the underrepresentation of women in economic corridors. Many companies within economic corridors fail to showcase an inclusive work environment or highlight the diverse career possibilities available for women in trading, freight forwarding, and customs brokerage.
The nature of international trade and customs clearance requires flexibility with working hours due to varying border agency timings across different time zones. This unpredictability in operations, combined with the need for physical presence during cargo clearance, creates significant challenges for women professionals balancing work and personal responsibilities. Table 7.5 presents some interventions to attract and employ women in the economic corridor sector, along with the corresponding indicators. Box 7.1 presents a case study from Ukraine.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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Assessment to identify barriers for women’s employment in corridor projects and an action plan:
| Assessment undertaken resulting in actionable recommendations and a time-bound and budgeted action plan. |
Career awareness programs:
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Internship Program for Female Students: Offer X month-long paid internships to female university students and recent graduates in technical fields such as, IT, logistics, and transport operations. The program will be hosted by project beneficiaries (for example, companies, logistics hubs, transport authorities) within the transport economic corridor. The aim is to provide hands-on experience in critical project components, such as infrastructure development, supply chain management, and transport logistics. |
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| Training in logistics and commercial trucking: Increase the representation of women in the commercial trucking and logistics industry by training and certifying them in these key roles (a licensed commercial truck driver, certified supply chain professional, and so on). |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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🧩 The Challenge
In response to Ukraine’s critical labor shortage of professional commercial truck drivers, a challenge further exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry for Development of Communities
🧩 The Challenge
In response to Ukraine’s critical labor shortage of professional commercial truck drivers, a challenge further exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, in partnership with the NGO Foundation for Institutional Development, has launched an initiative to train women as truck drivers—a profession traditionally dominated by men. This project seeks to address workforce shortages in the logistics sector while empowering women through targeted training and employment opportunities. The initiative is crucial for maintaining supply chains and strengthening the transport and logistics sectors now and during the recovery phase.
🛠️ The Intervention
The project equips women with training, reskilling, exam preparation, soft skills development, and mentorship throughout the process of obtaining their driving licenses, followed by job placement in logistics companies. Over 1,000 women applied for the program, which had only 120 available spots, and 30 transport and logistics companies have expressed interest in hiring, underscoring the critical importance of this initiative for both employees and employers. As of March, 2025, more than 60 women have already obtained their driver’s licenses and begun the employment process (18 women are already employed).
📌 Conclusion
By providing training, reskilling, and job placement in critical transport roles, the She Trucker program not only sustains essential services but also empowers women in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This initiative tackles Ukraine’s urgent labor shortages while building the foundation for a more inclusive and resilient workforce. To ensure its long-term sustainability, it is essential to establish a comprehensive system for training and certifying both drivers and instructors—aligned with European standards, modern teaching methodologies, and innovative technologies—and to expand the initiative nationwide.
Note: Inna Hanushevych, Project Manager, Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, provided this case study.
📝 HR Policies and Practices
Human resource (HR) policies and practices within the economic corridor sector often exhibit both overt and subtle gender biases. Some upper management members hold prejudiced mindsets toward women, particularly those who are about to marry or are pregnant. This bias can manifest in various discriminatory practices, such as overlooking qualified female candidates for promotions in customs brokerage or freight forwarding, assigning fewer challenging projects to women traders, or creating hostile work environments that push women to leave these sectors. The issue is further complicated by the unique challenges posed by the nature of work in economic corridors. Table 7.6 highlights some key interventions.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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Flexible work-life policies: Introduce policies that provide flexible working hours, job-sharing arrangements, and part-time options for staff in logistics and economic corridor sectors. Sexual harassment policy: Develop and implement a sexual harassment prevention policy, including procedures for reporting and redress, and ensure it is accessible to all staff and published on the company website. Isolated worker policy: Develop an isolated worker policy with an accompanying implementation plan that is accessible to all staff and available on the employer website. |
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Childcare facility: Establish on-site childcare services at major logistics hubs (for example, land ports, warehouses) and offer subsidies for childcare services. |
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Workplace Infrastructure and PPE: Ensure the provision of gender-sensitive workplace infrastructure, including separate toilets and changing rooms, adequate lighting, and PPE that is appropriately designed to fit both women and men. |
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A staff satisfaction survey: Conduct periodic surveys to assess staff satisfaction with employment terms, working conditions, professional development, and perceptions of equal opportunity. Results should be disaggregated by sex and other demographics to inform and evaluate relevant initiatives and identify areas for improvement. |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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🪜 Career Progression
The challenges of career progression for women in the corridor sector are equally significant and multifaceted. A primary factor is the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work and domestic responsibilities that society places on women. Across all income levels and job roles, whether employees or entrepreneurs, women consistently identify their domestic duties as the most critical factor influencing their career decisions. These responsibilities, which often include childcare, elder care, and household management, play a crucial role in determining whether women take career breaks, accept challenging work responsibilities (such as conducting fieldwork at ports and border crossings or night shifts), or pursue growth opportunities in their jobs or businesses.
The nature of work in economic corridors, which often involves on-site presence, long or irregular hours, and potential travel, creates additional hurdles for women trying to balance their care responsibilities. Unlike some other sectors that have embraced flexible working arrangements, the logistics and transportation industries have limited options for hybrid or work-from-home setups. This inflexibility disproportionately affects women in trading, freight forwarding, and customs brokerage, who are more likely to require adaptable work schedules to manage their dual responsibilities. Table 7.7. highlights some interventions to address women’s career progression challenges in the sector.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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A performance review system: Develop a performance review system for staff with a standardized framework linking performance reviews to workforce competencies, skills development, and promotions. A range of actions can achieve this objective, such as: establishing a promotion committee comprised of both women and men, adopting a blind selection process where candidates’ resumes do not include personal details, and testing participants without revealing their personal details so as to eliminate potential conscious or unconscious gender bias in promotion decisions. |
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Women’s networking and mentorship programs: Create women’s networking events, mentorship programs, and peer support groups to foster guidance and career growth. |
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Annual review process: Implement an annual review to track progress in women’s representation leadership roles, using specific metrics to measure effectiveness and adjust initiatives as needed. |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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🌟 Leadership
The challenge of women’s leadership in the economic corridor sector is particularly acute and self-perpetuating. There is a noticeable lack of promotion and celebration of women’s success stories and achievements within the industry. The absence of women in decision-making positions not only discourages aspiring female professionals from pursuing careers in this sector but also means that policies, practices, and workplace cultures continue to be shaped predominantly by male perspectives, potentially overlooking or undervaluing the unique challenges and contributions of women. Table 7.8 highlights some key interventions in these areas.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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Leadership programs and role model initiatives for women: Establish leadership development programs specifically designed to equip women in the logistics and economic corridor sectors with the skills, knowledge, and support networks necessary to advance into decision-making roles. These programs should focus on executive coaching, negotiation skills, and strategic thinking. |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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Entrepreneurship
Women entrepreneurs in the economic corridor face significant challenges that hinder their ability to establish and grow successful businesses.
These obstacles primarily fall into three categories: access to finance, business skill training, and business advisory support.
🏦 Access to Finance
Access to finance remains a formidable barrier for women entrepreneurs in economic corridors, particularly affecting women traders, freight forwarders, and custom brokers. These professionals often require financing for training, purchasing shipments, and managing cargo. However, they report major difficulties in obtaining loans through formal channels. The loan acquisition process is frequently perceived as complex and biased, largely due to women’s lack of collateral and asset ownership.
Many women-led firms in freight forwarding and customs brokerage rely heavily on company savings as their primary source of finance, struggling to secure bank loans. Even when women traders or logistics service providers manage to obtain loans, they often face unfavorable terms compared to their male counterparts. This financial constraint significantly impedes business growth and expansion opportunities in the economic corridor sector. The unfamiliarity with formal financial institutions further exacerbates the problem for women in these roles, hindering effective resource management. This financial exclusion not only limits individual entrepreneurial potential but also hampers the overall economic development of the sector, particularly in areas crucial to international trade and logistics. Table 7.9 highlights some of the suggested interventions to improve women’s access to finance in economic corridor projects.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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| Conduct a study on barriers existing and potential women traders and entrepreneurs face in navigating their work in economic corridors, covering a range of topics including financial barriers (credit access, collateral/guarantee terms, loan terms, alternative financing availability), awareness and financial literacy), institutional and policy barriers (for example, discriminatory lending policies or informal biases in financial institutions, business specific challenges in economic corridor projects), and recommendations on how to improve access to finance for them in the economic corridor regions. | Study undertaken with resulting recommendations and action plan on how to improve access to finance, training, and business advice for women traders and entrepreneurs. |
Access to finance for women-led SMEs in the economic corridor region: Develop and offer tailored financial products specifically for women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the corridor region. These products should cater to the unique financial needs of women, such as smaller loan sizes, flexible repayment terms, lower interest or lower collateral requirements, and export credit loans for businesses involved in cross-border trade. Women-led SME financing window: Set up a dedicated financing window within existing financial institutions or through a project-linked fund specifically for women entrepreneurs. This window would provide financial products and services, technical assistance for loan applications, and business support to enhance the growth and sustainability of women traders and entrepreneurs. |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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💼 Skills Training and Business Advisory Support
Access to business skill training and advisory support presents a significant challenge, exacerbating the constraints women face in the corridor sector. The industry comprises specialized roles, such as logistics analysts, supply chain managers, and customs specialists, yet there is a scarcity of training programs that addresses women’s needs. This shortage hinders women’s ability to acquire essential skills, qualifications, and certifications needed to operate specialized equipment and advance in the sector.
Rapid technological advancements further necessitate continuous upskilling, yet women often lack access to programs that keep pace with these changes. Additionally, mentorship and advisory support are crucial for retention, enabling women to navigate sector complexities and achieve career goals. However, the workplace culture can be unsupportive; many women face reluctance from male colleagues to accommodate, train, and work collaboratively, creating an uncomfortable environment that may lead to higher attrition rates and limit women’s advancement to leadership roles.
🔗 Market Access and Linkages
Market access is another challenge for women entrepreneurs due to inadequate transport infrastructure and poor digital access, especially in rural areas. This restricts their ability to reach broader markets and expand their businesses across the borders. Complex customs procedures and trade regulations, combined with insufficient information on tariffs and cross-border requirements, further hinder their participation in international trade. Additionally, women often face informal fees and delays at borders, reducing profitability. The lack of specialized infrastructure, such as cold storage and advanced logistics services, confines many women-led businesses to small local markets, limiting their growth potential.
The professional networking barriers are equally significant and perhaps more subtle in their impact. Women remain underrepresented in key industry bodies. This limited presence extends to crucial regulatory committees like the National Trade Facilitation Committees (as required under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement) and regional trade blocs (like COMESA), where important policy decisions are discussed and implemented. The lack of representation in these forums has far-reaching consequences. Women miss out on timely information about regulatory changes, struggle to build relationships with customs officials and port authorities, and have limited access to informal business networks that often facilitate trade operations. Table 7.10 highlights some interventions. Box 7.2 presents a case study from Bangladesh.
INTERVENTIONS | OUTPUT INDICATORS |
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Business skills training: Provide targeted training programs for local women traders and entrepreneurs based on the needs identified by the earlier mentioned assessment to enhance their business, financial, and regulatory skills covering topics such as business and financial management, trade and customs procedures, digital and e-commerce, and legal and business compliance. These programs can also include tailored business advisory support on overcoming trade barriers, scaling up, or accessing financing. |
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Access to trade information: Establish accessible platforms (for example, mobile apps, information kiosks) along the corridor that provide traders with real-time trade information, market prices, and regulatory updates, reducing information asymmetry and enhancing their decision-making in cross-border trade. |
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| Consultations between the government and the private sector, especially women-led businesses.The consultation mechanism should be accompanied by an efficient communication strategy to ensure that the trader and all customs brokers are aware of any proposals for laws and regulations or suggested amendments to these. |
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Networking platforms: Develop forums for women entrepreneurs in corridor and logistics sector to connect, share experiences, and collaborate through regular events and conferences. |
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OUTCOME INDICATORS |
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🧩 The Challenge
Women workers make up more than half of Bangladesh’s overall labor force. The garment trade, for example, relies heavily on women’s work, and as in many
🧩 The Challenge
Women workers make up more than half of Bangladesh’s overall labor force. The garment trade, for example, relies heavily on women’s work, and as in many other jobs women are heavily concentrated in the lower value, lower-compensated end of the supply chain. This is particularly evident in border regions, where women are the primary laborers in construction materials, agriculture, and light manufacturing.
Women face challenges when they trade across borders. They often encounter harassment, unwarranted taxes, and poor working conditions. Many are compelled to make informal payments or risk having their merchandise seized. Poor infrastructure at border stations, slow and inadequate transport logistics, and complex and time-consuming red tape push women traders toward informal channels, where the barriers they face are even higher. All of this is made harder by the fact that only 20% of women have access to credit, compared to 40% of men, and women-owned businesses represent only 10% of all enterprises.
The digital divide is yet another obstacle; women have limited access to the technology essential for modern trade. Also, a lack of data on women traders and their needs means there is little information on which to design policies.
🛠️ The Intervention
The World Bank’s Bangladesh Regional Connectivity Project (P154580) takes a comprehensive look at improving regional trade. It also addresses disparities between women and men in trade by removing the bottlenecks facing women. The project helps women develop new skills which include training them to connect to global value chains, building new infrastructure at trading points, improving temperature-regulated transport and storage to reduce crop spoilage, and simplifying trade rules. The project's beneficiaries include traders, producers, and transport providers.
Networking is another important part of the project. The Women Entrepreneurs Networking Platform, developed by the Ministry of Commerce (Government of India), serves as both a marketplace and a networking hub, a place for women entrepreneurs to both showcase their products and get access to trade information. This digital platform is designed to be user-friendly and lets entrepreneurs connect across industries. Its messaging system makes it easy to communicate with domestic and international partners.
🏗️ Implementation Challenges and Successes
The project has achieved notable successes in its pilot training programs in cut flower production and agricultural processing. It is launching a third program to train women in information and communications technology. WENP was established through a collaborative two-year development initiative. With support from industry associations, private sector partners, and think tanks, the program led comprehensive data collection efforts covering 25,000 women entrepreneurs between 2021 and 2023.
💡 Lessons Learned
- Integrating Women in Trade: The project shows that addressing disparities between women and men in trade requires a comprehensive approach. The Women Entrepreneurs Networking Platform, for example, grew out of a two-year process and was supported by industry associations, the private sector, and think tanks.
- Sector-Specific Training Programs: The pilot training programs are a successful model for boosting women's participation in trade. Targeting specific industries, like flowers, has offered women, especially those who were stuck in low-value work, a chance at upward mobility.
- Collaboration Across Agencies: The project's success in coordinating across multiple agencies demonstrates the importance of institutional collaboration in tackling gaps between women and men. This approach proves valuable in addressing complex challenges such as infrastructure, procedural barriers, and limited access to resources.
📌 Conclusion
The Bangladesh Regional Connectivity Project 1 presents potential paths to address barriers to women's economic participation. The project's remarkable current network of 32,000 female entrepreneurs illustrates how well-designed tools can integrate women into formal trade networks. The project provides a replicable model for moving women into better opportunities for trade. This case study from Bangladesh offers valuable insights for similar plans to change dynamics in trade so as to create pathways for women's economic empowerment.
Note: Nusrat Nahid Babi and Amali Rajapaksa (World Bank Senior Transport Specialists) reviewed and cleared this case study.