Trade and gender: The Canada-France story

Two-way Canadian merchandise with France averaged $11.5 billion annually during 2018 and 2019. This was up 23% compared to 2016 – the last full year before preferential tariff treatment under CETA was put into force in 2017.

In 2019, Canada exported $3,637 million in goods to France and imported $8,693 million worth of goods.

In Canada, 15,909 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to France. Women hold 5,009 of these jobs.

Top 5 industries

Jobs held by women that are directly or indirectly supported by goods exports to France:

• Wholesale trade: 489
• Crop and animal production: 462
• Transportation and equipment manufacturing: 411
• Finance and insurance: 361
• Professional, scientific, and technical services: 344

The number of Canadian businesses exporting goods to the France in 2019 was 3,089, while the number of Canadian businesses importing goods from the France was 12,131.

Women-owned and equally owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 35.2%
• Import value: 21.0%
• Exporters: 20.7%
• Importers: 26.5%

Men-owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 64.8%
• Import value: 79.0%
• Exporters: 79.3%
• Importers: 73.5%

Women-owned and equally owned Canadian businesses account for a much larger share of the value of exports than the number of exporters.

Notes: Women-, men- and equally owned businesses refer to Canadian-controlled private corporations. The reported fractions are of those for which data on gender of ownership are available.

Direct jobs: Initial trade transactions support jobs directly.

Indirect Jobs: Additional jobs supported indirectly due to an increase in business-to-business (e.g. supply chain) transactions that result from the initial trade.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database 2017, Trade by Exporter Characteristics 2017, Trade by Importer Characteristics 2017 and Canadian Merchandise Trade Database 2019.