Long-term effect of international trade on the gender wage and educational gaps

This paper uses cross-country data to examine the long-term effect of trade openness on the gender gaps in wages, education, political empowerment and health. Key findings are: trade openness since 1970 reduced the gender gaps in wages and educational attainment as of 2011 but did not influence the gaps in political attainment and health status. The effect of trade openness on the gender wage gap remained observable in later years (1980, 1990 and 2000), although it decreased in degree over time. On the other hand, the effect of trade openness on the gender gap in educational attainment disappeared in 2000. Similar results were obtained even after controlling for endogenous bias.