Human Trafficking and Gender Inequality: How Businesses Can Lower Risks and Costs

Human trafficking continues to be a profitable multi-billion dollar business. People are either callous toward human rights or they are unaware of the crime occurring. Many businesses may unknowingly facilitate human trafficking by providing services, such as transportation, hotels, or haircuts, or purchasing products from unfamiliar sources that secretly use forced labor. To be socially responsible, a business must establish effective enterprise governance policies that help prevent and detect trafficking. A business can incur legal fines, damage to its reputation, incur lost business, and be subject to litigation, all as a result of human trafficking. Worldwide, estimates are that 50 million people are being trafficked. Human trafficking is especially harmful to females, both adult women and girls, who comprise about 70 percent of all trafficking victims. Gender theory helps explain this disproportionate impact on women. This study provides an overview of human trafficking, an empirical analysis of the relationship of gender inequality to trafficking, and specific steps that a business can take to help prevent this crime, protect its reputation, and avoid fines and lost business.