This paper investigates the contribution of female labor participation as well female ownership/management to trade margins using firm-level data for 18 manufacturing and services sectors in eight MENA countries for 2013. This topic is innovative, and critical for the MENA region where female participation in the export sector is shy, at a time the region is looking for new sources of competitiveness to boost its exports. Our results show that first, female labor participation has a positive a significant impact on both the probability of export and export volume, with the effect being independent of the size of the firm. Female labor participation matters in traditional sectors where the MENA region has a comparative advantage. Second, while the effect of female ownership or management is not significant on trade margins, female management/ownership exerts a positive effect on the probability of large firms to export. This positive effect is mainly driven by female ownership and not management, and thus sheds light on the potential importance of female empowerment in international trade. Third, the effect of some regulatory barriers on exports is more pronounced for a female-owned/managed firm, with respect to a men-owned/managed firm.

本文使用2013年中东和北非地区八个国家18个制造业和服务业的公司级数据，调查了女性劳动参与以及女性所有权/管理权对贸易利润的贡献。该主题具有创新性，对女性参与的中东和北非地区至关重要出口部门害羞，而该地区正寻找新的竞争力来源来促进其出口。我们的结果表明，首先，女性劳动力的参与对出口概率和出口量均具有积极的显着影响，其影响与企业规模无关。在中东和北非地区具有相对优势的传统部门，女性的劳动参与至关重要。其次，虽然女性拥有或管理对贸易利润的影响不大，女性管理/所有权对大企业出口的可能性产生积极影响。这种积极影响主要是由女性所有权而不是管理推动的，因此阐明了赋予女性权力在国际贸易中的潜在重要性。第三，相对于男性拥有/管理的公司，某些监管壁垒对出口的影响对于女性拥有/管理的公司更为明显。