Glass Barriers: Constraints to Women’s Small-Scale,Cross-Border Trade in Cambodia and Lao PDR

Border checkpoints in developing countries often teem with traders transporting small quantities on foot or pushing carts alongside trucks that sport the insignia of formal companies. Those small-scale, cross-border traders may eventually be superseded by larger import-export firms. But during the process of development, their trade may be a valuable avenue for poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment. This chapter focuses on the latter in the context of small-scale, cross-border trade in Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). It analyzes recent survey research undertaken by the World Bank and draws conclusions about the key policy implications for facilitating the poverty-reducing impact of women’s participation in small-scale, cross-border trade.