Women-owned businesses represent an important and growing part of the e-commerce market, yet many remain underserved by existing services providers. Addressing this gap offers significant potential for the postal sector at a time when it is seeking to strengthen its position in e-commerce.
While women comprise half of the world’s population, they still face persistent barriers limiting their ability to fully participate in the e-commerce market. Global research shows they still trail men in access to the Internet, as well as access to banking services, with 700 million of the 1.3 billion unbanked being women. Furthermore, women small business owners also lack access to the information and networks they need to start-up and help their businesses thrive. The exclusion of women from e-commerce is costing the economy billions.
The postal network – through its global reach and provision of logistics, financial, and digital services – has the potential to help close these gaps. By reaching underserved women entrepreneurs, postal operators can broaden their customer base while enabling greater participation in e-commerce.
It’s a rich opportunity and one that aligns with the UPU’s proposed strategy for 2026-2029, which envisions a society that is interconnected, inclusive and sustainable, empowered by a seamless, innovative postal network.
As such, the upcoming Universal Postal Congress in Dubai will discuss a proposal to make gender equality and the empowerment of women a regular part of the UPU’s work programme – furthering work done over the previous four-year cycle and ensuring that postal products and services are designed to meet the needs of all customers into the future.
Progress to date
At the 2021 Congress in Abidjan, member countries mandated the UPU to develop and implement the first-ever policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women (GEEW) for the postal sector. This initiated work on gender mainstreaming – the process by which organizations ensure both women’s and men’s perspectives are considered when developing products, projects and programmes – including fair hiring practices to ensure diverse perspectives in postal decision-making processes.
By the end of 2023, the UPU met 41% of requirements under the UN System-Wide Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, compared to only 6% in 2021.
While the progress is notable, significant gaps remain within the sector.
To date, women represent only 18% of chairs, co-chairs and vice-chairs in the UPU Council of Administration (CA), and 27% in the case of the organization’s Postal Operations Council (POC) – two key decision-making bodies of the Union. Similarly, only 21% of heads of delegation to the CA and 24% of heads of delegation to the POC are women. Within the IB, 18% of director-grade staff and 24% of professional-grade staff are women.
Priorities for 2026-2029
The upcoming Congress will review a proposal to deepen the UPU’s work on gender mainstreaming to strengthen its position as an e-commerce provider to women entrepreneurs around the world.
The plan also proposes further measuring progress on the empowerment of women across the sector and ensuring capacity building support for members in line with regional and national development priorities.
By making gender equality central to its work, the UPU can unlock new markets, strengthen the global postal network, and deliver on its promise of leaving no one behind.
