Aprodev 2009 1

Concepts and Approaches to Gender Mainstreaming in Trade: Its “gendered” impacts on women producers and workers through current

trade agreements

EPAs and Women in Africa

United Nations Economic Commission for AfricaAFRICAN TRADE POLICY CENTRE

Inception Workshop on Mainstreaming Gender into Trade Policy21- 22 April 2009

Presentation by Karin Ulmer, APRODEVk.ulmer@aprodev.net, www.aprodev.net

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• APRODEV is the Brussels-based association of the 17 European development organisations that work closely with the World Council of Churches (WCC/AACC).

• Members are: BREAD FOR ALL, BREAD FOR THE WORLD, CHRISTIAN AID, CHURCH OF SWEDEN, CIMADE, DANCHURCHAID, DIAKONIA , EAEZ, EED, FINNCHURCHAID, KERKINACTIE Global Ministries, HEKS / EPER, HUNGARIAN INTERCHURCH AID, ICCO, ICELANDIC CHURCH AID, NORWEGIAN CHURCH AID, PROTESTANT SOLIDARITY, Observers: WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION

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APRODEV lessons learnt

• 2002: EPA Gender impact assessment - case study (Zimbabwe)• 2003: Gender dimension of EPAs - regional & cross-sector

(West Africa) • 2004: Sector specific - global value chain (Global Chicken) • 2005: Framework for trade supported development strategy

(Development Benchmarks) • 2008: Trade policy making (Trade and Governance)• 2009: Monitoring (EPA indicators for trade impact)

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What kind of growth?What kind of development?

“And the quality of growth, not just its quantity, is crucial for human well-being. Growth can be jobless, rather than job creating; ruthless, rather than poverty reducing; voiceless, rather than participatory; rootless, rather than culturally enshrined; and futureless, rather than environmentally friendly. Growth that is jobless, ruthless, voiceless, rootless and futureless is not conducive to human development.” (Jahan,1995)

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EPAs are not gender neutral

• Without gender, poverty is exacerbated • With gender, poverty is differentiated• With gender, policies are informed • Gender provides insights into dynamic interaction of micro and macro

level• Gender insights allow to design responsive policy measures at meso level

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EPAs as instruments for development?

• Without gender, there is no sustainable development • Gender and development is peripheral in EPAs• Development concerns are delegated to flanking and mitigating measures

or out-sourced to Aid for Trade

• With gender, there is more insights into the pathway to development • Gender research provides evidence to put development as overriding

objective at centre of trade policies • Gender impact is an incentive to monitor effects of institutional gap of

trade policies and social/development policies

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Gender analysis: A framework for differentiated impact

• Workers and producers• Consumers• Citizens• Government capacity to respond

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Gender analysis: Economic wide framework for distributional effects

Interactions of competing interests in market context

Markets are gender biased

Gender inequality happens at three levels: macro: expanding/decreasing economic sectorsmeso: public expenditure and public policiesmicro: improvement/deterioration of sources of incomes

Factors that mediate the effects

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Gender analysis: Economic wide framework for distributional effects

• Quantity of jobs

• Quality of jobs

• Effect on household level

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Gender analysis: Economic wide framework for distributional effects

Policy measures

• gender impact assessments

• labour market conditions

• combination of productive and reproductive gender roles

• for independent producers

• for workers and employees

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Sector specific: Findings from the UN Agricultural Assessment (IAASTD)

IAASTD – International Assessment of Agriculture, Science andTechnology for Development

Key findings:

• Highlights agency of small holder and women farmers in local markets• Support ecosystem, soil and traditional knowledge• Farming as science of people knowing what they do • Promotes multi-functionality of agriculture

Source: www.agassessment.org

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IAASTD

Family/women farmers are an essential part of the solution, they - have the greatest potential to improve productivity, secure livelihoods,

reduce poverty, resilience to climate change

Options - invest in agro-forestry, eco-agriculture, energy and biodiversity- use science as driver towards multi-functionality and resilience of

agriculture- opening of markets and trade in a way that reward sustainable (social,

economic, equitable, environmental) practices

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Poor women’s crops have been neglected

“So the IAASTD, the international assessment of agriculture – was called to look into agricultural science, technology and how we can solve problems of hunger, poverty in a way also to protect and environment and at the same time look issues equity and people really benefit largely from agriculture. ….

The question was how are we going to do this based on the experience of the last fifty years in science, technology and agriculture? What we came up with us basically we need more sustainable agriculture, that means we need to think about our production basis, think about water, about, about soil about biodiversity, support an agriculture that will produce enough for the many people and the many more needs of the people in the future.

…..

Interview with Dr. Hans Herren, co-chair of IAASTD, Brussels 24 June 2008

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State of play of Subsaharan African agriculture and livelihoods

• Food deficit due to fast growing population• People living on less than US $1 per day: 227mio/1990, 303mio/2002;

but slight decline in percentage from 44.6% to 44%. • Slight decrease of chronic hunger: 33% in 1990-1992 to 31% in 2001-2003;

but increase in absolute numbers.

• Changing farming pattern • Changing demographics• Socio-economic effects of malnutrition • Rapid depletion of natural resources• Threats to biodiversity

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Gender dynamics in rural economiesPoverty and gender

Gender and trade links• The effect of economic and trade policies on gender dynamics is critical

and winners and losers must be taken into account. • Consumer prices may decrease as a result of increased competition, but

women may nonetheless be the ultimate losers

Trade policy making • Development of large-scale commercial, export-orientated agriculture• Importance of informal economy to employment is ignored.

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Gender dynamics in local poultry markets

Gender and poverty • Over 85% of all African households are “poultry households”;

backyard poultry farming providing some 70% of all chicken

Gender and trade links • Women benefit from jobs, extra cash, empowers women, provides first

entry into micro entrepreneurial activities

Trade policy making • Increase in frozen chicken imports to Cameroon (from 60,000 t in 1994 to

22,100 t in 2003) is a disaster for the national economy, public health, and women’s entrepreneurial activities.

• Living standards of more than 1mio people (15%) affected. • 1 t of imported chicken substitutes 5 jobs in rural economy (110 000 job)

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Gender dynamics in local poultry markets: “Think small first”

Agriculture-for-development

Opportunities for women: jobs in feed produceadditional cash income through marketingimproved nutritional value disburse and control of assets increased social status - decrease of domestic violencecapital accumulation participation in religious and socio-cultural lives poultry ownership ensures more economic stability, minimises risks strengthens cohesion within local communities

Source: Ulmer (2008) Gender aspects of local chicken, in: Buntzel/Mari (2008) Global Chicken

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Gender dynamics in super markets:“Get modern or get out”

Rapid growing supermarket chains:

• Potential: - increase value added production - provide incentives to private sector support farmers to comply to quality standards

• Risk: - profit orientated supermarkets shift risks and costs of production to women farmers- tend to ignore externalised social and environmental costs of agricultural production

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Interrelatedness of agriculture: embedded in a social context

• Women are primary user of natural resources• Men are primary decision makers

• Each 10% increase in small-scale agricultural productivity would move appr. 7 mio people above the dollar-a-day poverty line

• Put women farmers at centre of agricultural research and development and research priorities and design

• Account for externalised social and environmental costs in production and consumption patterns

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Development strategies to rural economy

• Develop strategies to: -integrate subsistence farming in local markets - use multi-functionality of agriculture to exploit more nonfarm rural jobs - prioritise local rural markets for increasing farm household income and productivity - integrate micro-credit programmes and credit-financed land reform in rural economy (singling out is no solution)

• Design strategy to reorganise domestic agricultural markets to reduce poverty and limit risks for small holders.

• Exploit potential of local marketing of cassava, sorghum, potatoes rather than export expansion of corn, sugar, cotton, soya, palm oil

• Exploit and invest in potential of small scale farmers as producers and traders, rather than in consumer group of the poor.

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Sector specific: Public procurement

• Important economic area accounting for significant share of GDP• Importance of public procurement for national preference • EC introduces key provisions at WTO but no S&DT provisions• Potential: liberalising procurement could provide impetus, but benefits do

not have to happen within an EPA• Risk: reduced flexibility to use procurement to achieve development

objectives; irreversibility of EPA commitments; limited capacity for implementation.

• Options: market opening could be subject to conditions such as technology transfer requirements, support for supply capacity.

Source: Aprodev (2007) EPA Red Lines

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Gender instruments for EPAs (1)

Gender impact assessment • Inform negotiations because distributional impacts matter for poverty

reduction • Visit liberalisation schedules that are now available on gender impact of

goods, services and intellectual property • Look systematically at each sector and sub-sector at national and regional

level

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Gender instruments for EPAs (2)

Gender-sensitive policy measures

• Reflect micro-level impacts not only macro impact • Design policy responses at meso-level : sequencing, strategy and

interaction of domestic and trade policies• Identify and exempt gender sensitive sectors/products from liberalisation • Exclude sensitive agricultural sectors and textile/garments sectors• Sequence flanking measures: advance action to compensate for income

loss • Design policies for women’s income sources: identify gender specific

constraints to tackle competitive markets such as credit, technology, investment, productivity, export opportunities

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Gender instruments for EPAs (3)

Gender-responsive budgeting

• Ring-fence government revenues • Prevent reverse distribution of negative impacts (taxation)

• Gender budget analyses looks at: Inputs: money appropriated and spentActivities: services planned and deliveredOutputs: utilisation of planned and delivered servicesImpacts: planned and actual achievement of broader objectives

• Gender audits

Source: Aprodev and ERO (2002) Concept notes on gender budgeting

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Gender instruments for EPAs (4)

Gender Development Benchmarks

• Development objectives and effects need to be linked to trade agreements and trade policies

• Articulate how and where trade polices support and link with development strategies

• Ensure coherence with development policies

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Gender Benchmark on Special and Sensitive Products

In addition to WTO criteria for special products of poverty alleviation, employment and food security, a fourth criteria on disproportionate gender impact could be added.

Gender criteria could be defined as follows: - if a sector is particularly critical to the livelihood of poor women and liberalisation would jeopardise this function, then the sector is eligible for nomination as sensitive until the affected women can compete or find other comparable income opportunities - alternatively, if a sector is liberalised and found to have a disproportionate impact on poor women, then liberalisation schedules can be halted or reversed.

A process could be designed whereby:a. Each ACP country lists the gender sensitive product/sector on the basis of

objective/agreed criteria (women’s employment, share of credits, decision-making, autonomy in entrepreneurial activities)

b. Possibly, limit number of gender sensitive products per countryc. Gender sensitive products should be declared special products.d. Safeguard measures can be evoked for gender sensitive products.Source: Ulmer (2007) Equity in trade negotiations: a gender review of EPAs.TNI,Vol6No2

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Gender Equity Benchmark

Equity benchmarks should allow and promote positive measures under aid for trade, development support, investment, and/or mitigating and accompanying stipulations that are designed in a way that explicitly address gender specific measures. These include for example, safety nets, provisions that promote women entrepreneurs, regulations that encourage supply capacity building, and control over productive resources.

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Preventing Dumping of Surplus Meat–Parts on Vulnerable Developing

Country Markets ACDIC, APRODEV, EED, ICCO, SOS FAIM - May 2008

Allow defensive trade rules to stop dumping practices • Developing countries have the right and obligation to apply effective trade defence

instruments against import surges and dumping in the meat sector. Poultry, among others, must be allowed to be listed as a “Special Product” according to the common WTO definition. It also must qualify for triggering the Special Safeguard Mechanism under the terms proposed by the G33 in the Doha Round of the WTO.

• Developed Countries must respect Developing Countries’ right to exempt certain products from free trade agreements and to protect themselves from private business practices, which undermine the objectives outlined for Special Products.

• Exporting countries bear a responsibility to prevent dumping practices in Developing Countries for “special and sensitive products”. A country accused of dumping in this field must investigate the complaint and provide proof that there is no dumping. If evidence is not provided, the accused country has to bear the costs of the litigation and must take remedial action.

• A simple complaint mechanism for dumping cases must be introduced into the international trade regime. Developing Countries and their civil society organisations, such as producer associations, must be entitled to invoke this mechanism.

• Products, which receive considerable product specific support, should not be exported to developing countries.

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Monitoring EPA poverty and gender equity ambitions

EPA indicators should serve three key purposes:

1. to monitor implementation of commitments, in particular disbursement and effective delivery of pledged financial and technical assistance

2. to monitor impacts of EPA implementation on sustainable development, poverty reduction and gender equality

3. to trigger implementation of EPA commitments by ACP countries or to qualify them for exemptions

Source: Aprodev (2009) EPA indicators

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Monitoring EPA poverty and gender equity ambitions

• Sequencing of delivery on commitments through institutional and project-level monitoring

• Trends through statistics and indices to ensure that progress is moving in the right direction

• Impacts at firm and livelihoods level, including through monitoring by civil society groups to assess disaggregated and non-economic impacts not provided by trend data, and to improve governance by making trade policy more responsive, accountable, consultative and effective

Source: EPA round table report: Aprodev, One World Action, Commonwealth, April 2009

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Monitoring gender impact

• Lack of informal and service sector data, less issue of gendered data but more an issue of lack of informal and service sector data

• Challenge to get a gender picture from data and trigger proposed which is part of broader framework

• Complement macro-economic trends with monitoring micro household impacts, labour conditions

• Monitor sequencing: are safety nets in place, are retraining programmes available?

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Role of civil society in EPA monitoring • Involving civil society in the monitoring process is important from the

point of view of improving the governance of trade agreements but also as civil society provide the opportunity to effectively monitor grass roots impacts, including distributional and non-economic impacts, critical for assessing progress towards poverty eradication aims.

• Monitor EPAs impact on different social and economic groups. Involve them directly in this exercise. Monitoring is a practical means to ensure the agreement and flanking measures are implemented correctly and that any unintended impacts can be addressed. Involving affected groups is a means to ensure responsive, accountable governance and to understand impacts at firm and household level.

Source: Aprodev (2008):Trade and Governance: Does governance matter for trade?

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African Ombudswomen for EPA

Ombudswomen (problem solving in the EPAs : where to turn?)

• The African Ombudswomen could receive and investigate complaints about gender discrimination in EPA institutions.

• Complaints could be invited from citizens, companies, regional offices, associations and NGOs that concern the lack of transparency in EPA institutions and help solve discrimination or unfairness in EPA dealings.

• The Ombudswomen could provide services specifically to women as citizens, in companies, NGOs, associations and other organisations to advice them on how to best proceed with their complaints or information requests.

• The Ombudswomen could cooperate closely with other complaint-handling bodies at national and regional or all African level.