Gender and Trade
ICFTU – Geneva Office
Elements of Globalization
Trade liberalization Deregulation Privatization Structural adjustment
Gender inequality
Three layers responsible for gender inequality:
1. Social aspects
2. Availability of empowering tools
3. Status of women in the workplace
Social aspects
Social norms determined on the basis of culture, ethnicity or religion
Societies are patriarchal in different degrees
More economic value is attributed to « male » activities
Care work is not valued in economic terms
Availability of empowering tools
Women have less access to education
Less access to health Less access to business services No right to land or access to credit in
some countries Less bargaining power
Status of women in the workplace
The status is influenced by the other two
groups of factors, leading to:
1. Lower labour market participation
2. Lower quality of employment
3. Job segregation
4. Discrimination
5. Wage inequalities
Link between gender and trade Trade agreements tend to affect the already
weak position of women in the labour market in a negative way
Trade affects the empowering tools of women (less access to education for example)
Trade contributes to job segregation and concentration of women in certain jobs
Trade can increase income inequalities between men and women
Introduction to trade
Trade worldwide has increased substantially over the past 20 years
Not just between developed countries but also between developed and developing countries
Developing countries that have benefited from trade are a small number of the larger ones
The majority of developing countries has not benefited of the growth in trade and many are worse off than 20 years ago
Introduction
Trade liberalization means the reduction of trade barriers between countries
Trade barriers can be tariffs, quotas, or technical standards
Reducing these barriers or removing them will increase the trade between countries
Introduction
Countries will produce those products in which they have comparative advantage
This means that they will produce what they do best, based on the assets they have (for example unskilled labour)
Continuous competition requires continuous, gradual adjustment and shift towards other products
Trade negotiations
Trade negotiations with the aim to reduce trade barriers, take place in the WTO, which is a multilateral institution.
The principle of most favoured nation applies (MFN) which means that a reduction in trade barriers to one country has to be given to all countries that are member of WTO
The principle of national treatment applies, which means that treatment given to domestic products or companies should also be given to foreign products or companies (for example subsidies)
Trade negotiations
Besides multilateral liberalization there are also bilateral and regional trade agreements (FTAs)
Examples are agreements such as Mercosur, CAFTA, NAFTA, FTAA, Andean, CARICOM, US-Chile agreement
These agreements normally are WTO plus, which means that these agreements go further in liberalization than WTO agreements
Many of them include rules on investment (with investor to state provision: company can sue government if regulations affect profits), competition, far going services liberalization and government procurement rules.
FTAs
Free Trade Agreements often include provisions for labour standards, in particular those with the EU and US
Many of them require the enforcement of own labour laws
Control is not always effective, and sanctions do not exist or are limited to fines
Impact of trade agreements on women
There are different areas in which trade liberalization impacts on women
One of the areas is agriculture Another one is services A third one is manufacturing And there is the access to medication
issue
Agriculture
Developed countries apply high tariffs and quotas to agricultural products that are of interest to developing countries, preventing access to their markets
At the same time, developed countries dump their products on the world market at low prices due to the subsidies they receive and thus pushing developing countries out of the market, because the can not produce against such a low price
Agriculture
Many farmers and agriculture workers have moved to urban areas, because production is no longer profitable and cheap goods from developed countries flood the market.
Many of them are women who migrate to urban areas, some ending up in prostitution, others in domestic services or in manufacturing. Others migrate to other countries
Agriculture
Another important role is played by the big agribusiness, multinational companies, that control production on plantations
Production in a number of commodities is dominated by a few companies
They employ many women as seasonal workers, on temporary, flexible contracts, poor working conditions, bad safety and health conditions, and which are unable to organise
Services
Trade liberalization in services has started 10 years ago with the GATS agreement
The General Agreement on Trade in Services aims at complete liberalization of trade in services
Services commitments can include all services, including public services
Services
Liberalization takes place through commitments by governments
A list of commitments shows which sectors a member wants to liberalize. Restrictions and exceptions can be listed
Once commitments are made they can not be changed
Liberalization commitments cover 4 modes of services supply
Services
Mode 1 is cross border supply, f.e. offshoring
Mode 2 is consumption abroad, f.e. tourism
Mode 3 is investment abroad Mode 4 is the movement of natural
persons to supply a service abroad
Impact on women
Access to services are important for women, for example healthcare, education, water. If not available, women are the ones who have to provide these services
This access is no longer guaranteed if public services are liberalized and if public services can no longer benefit from subsidies or preferential treatment due to the national treatment principle
In addition, services liberalization often leads to privatization. Private companies’ main objective is profits, not access for all at an affordable price
Impact on women
Private services in developing countries, which often just start to develop, have to compete with developed countries’ service providers, due to trade liberalization, which will drive them out of the market
Again, private companies are mainly interested in profits, and not in access for all, excluding often rural areas or specific groups, f.ex. in access to credit
Impact on women
Financial services liberalization will allow foreign banks to provide financial services such as loans and credits
An important consequence will be « cherry picking » Foreign banks will take the richest clients, the best personnel and will leave local banks with less resources to provide credit to the poor
Foreign banks will not provide credit to the poor or in rural areas, as these clients will not bring them any profits. This will in particular affect women
Migration
Shifts in production due to trade liberalization and due to dumping of agriculture products have led to unemployment in agriculture and to migration
Men migrate to urban areas and leave women behind with care for the children, work on the land, education and healthcare
Migration can lead to brain drain and brain waste
manufacturing
Trade liberalization has led to the creation of export processing zones
For manufacturing, but also increasingly for services (call centres)
Violations of workers’ rights, in particular freedom of association, in EPZs
The majority of workers in EPZs are women, men are only employed in higher skilled higher wage jobs in EPZs
manufacturing
Characteristics of work in EPZs:1. Low-skilled work2. High pace3. Restricted breaks and toilet visits4. Often forced overtime work5. Trade unions not allowed6. Poor working and living conditions7. Harassment, including sexual harassment8. High labour turnover9. No training
Recent developments
Trade in textiles is determined by a quota system. These quotas will be eliminated end 2004
Competition in textiles will increase Increased competiton will lead to lowering of
labour standards in textiles production Many countries will lose textiles industries, such
as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Central American countries, African countries
Many women will loose their job in these countries
No adequate adjustment measures have been prepared
TRIPS
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Objective: protection of intellectual property
rights Protection of patents for life saving
medication such as HIV/AIDS medicines WTO decision allows for generics and for
compulsory licensing Bilateral trade agreements (US) tries to
reinforce the patent rights again, thus reducing access to medication
Improve position of women
Change root causes: longterm process Ensure that trade agreements do not affect
the empowerment tools of women Increase access to credit and land Organize women Awareness raising on trade agreements
and impacts of these
Concrete steps
Exclude public services from GATS and other services liberalization in free trade agreements
Be careful with liberalization of financial services: access to credit and financial stability
Research, lobbying and alliance building Alliances with trade unions in other
countries.
Concrete steps
More need for statistics Ask governments for impact assessments Organize women, and reinforce position of
women within trade unions Look at best practices Lobby governments on trade policies Inclusion of core labour standards, including
Conventions Nos. 100 and 111 in trade agreements
Concrete steps
Awareness campaigns on gender and trade
Booklets and training material Mainstreaming of gender issues in
trade union policies Training courses on impact of trade
for example GATS
Useful websites
http://www.twnside.org.sg/ http://www.dawn.org.fj/ http://www.genderandtrade.net/
Homepage/contact.html Gender in trade union work, FES
http://library.fes.de/fulltext/iez/01107toc.htm Gender and trade:
http://www.wiram.de/gendersourcebook/cooperation/cooperation_trade.html
Useful websites
www.gatswatch.org Gender impacts of CAFTA:
http://www.coc.org/pdfs/coc/genderCAFTAfactsheet.pdf
Módulos Básicos para un análisis de género y comercio : http://www.generoycomercio.org/docs/arts/modulos_basicos_analisis_gyc.doc
Gender and Trade myths http://www.poptel.org.uk/women-ww/gender_trade_and_the_WTO.html#note