The new way of addressing gender equality issues in trade agreements: is it a true revolution?

THE NEW WAY OF ADDRESSING

GENDER EQUALITY ISSUES IN

TRADE AGREEMENTS:

IS IT A TRUE REVOLUTION?

As the nexus between trade policy, gender equality and development

becomes increasing clear, a new generation of free trade agreements

includes trade and gender chapters, signalling a remarkable shift from past

practice. This policy brief attempts to show whether this can be regarded

as a completely new approach in the way the trade community addresses

gender equality issues.

How to make trade policy more

gender-sensitive

Over the last 30 years, globalization has

contributed to increased cross-border

ows of goods and services, capital,

technology and information. The prevailing

assumption during this period has been

that the lowering of economic, geographic

and cultural barriers leads to higher levels

of productivity and expanded employment

opportunities from which everybody can

benet. However, at present, globalization

and international trade are under scrutiny

and being criticized for leaving too

many behind, especially the most fragile

segments of the population.

Establishing clear links between trade

policy and overarching goals, including on

gender equality and women’s economic

empowerment, would further contribute

to making trade a tool for sustainable

development. Trade has an impact on

women’s empowerment and well-being,

UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

No.53

and gender inequality has an impact on the

trade performance and competitiveness of

countries.

There are at least two ways to make trade

policy more gender-sensitive and, to yield

the best results, they should be combined.

Ex ante gender-related assessments of

trade measures

First, assessments of the risks and benets

of trade for a country as a whole should

be complemented by an analysis of

potential impacts on specic segments of

the population, in particular those at risk

of being left behind, including women and

girls. Such assessments may lead to the

rethinking of planned trade reforms or may

indicate the necessity of accompanying

measures or of scaling up trade measures

due to expected positive impacts. The best

approach is to conduct such assessments

prior to introducing new trade measures.

OCTOBER 2017

POLICY BRIEF

Key points

• There are two ways to make trade

policy more gender-sensitive: the

rst is to conduct a gender-related

assessment prior to introducing

new trade measures; the second

is to include gender-related

considerations in the text of

trade instruments such as trade

agreements. To yield the best

results, they should be combined

• As the nexus between trade policy,

gender equality and development

becomes increasingly clear, a

new generation of free trade

agreements includes trade and

gender chapters, signicantly

shifting the visibility of such issues

within trade instruments

• The inclusion of trade and

gender chapters in new free

trade agreements is a welcome

step, yet such chapters remain a

light component. However, such

developments should not be

overlooked, as they encompass a

number of positive outcomes

Trade affects economies along three main channels. First, trade usually leads to changes in the structure of

production, with some sectors expanding due to new export opportunities and others contracting due to import

competition. Such changes are likely to affect employment opportunities, remunerations and the quality and

security of jobs. Second, trade induces changes in the price of goods and services, which in turn has an impact on

real incomes. Third, the reduction or elimination of tariffs due to trade liberalization diminishes government revenues

and may curtail its ability to provide public services. These impacts of trade can be examined through a gender

lens. See UNCTAD, 2014, Virtual Institute Teaching Material on Trade and Gender: Volume 1 – Unfolding the Links

(United Nations publication, New York and Geneva).

In addition, the Caribbean Forum States–

European Union Economic Partnership

Agreement, signed in 2008, reafrms the

commitment of the parties to promote the

development of international trade in a way

that is conducive to full and productive

employment and decent work for all,

including men, women and young people

(chapter 5, article 191).

The inclusion of gender-related capacity-

building mechanisms features in earlier free

trade agreements.

For example, in the European Union–

Mexico global agreement (1997; revised

and expanded in 2000; negotiations for

modernization launched in 2016), gender

equality, along with human rights and

environmental issues, is regarded as a

cross-cutting issue to be mainstreamed

in development cooperation between the

parties.

In addition, the European Union–East

African Community economic partnership

agreement (ratication pending) includes

articles on sheries that provide for

cooperation on and contributions to

poverty alleviation measures through the

“participation of marginal groups in the

shing industry, for example the promotion

of gender equity in sheries and particularly

developing capacity of women traders

involved and intending to engage in

sheries” (article 89 (g) (ii)).

Finally, annex 16.5 of the Dominican

Republic–Central America–United States

of America Free Trade Agreement (2005),

on the labour cooperation and capacity-

building mechanism, includes gender-

related issues such as the “elimination of

discrimination in respect of employment

and occupation” as a cooperation and

capacity-building priority; and one of the

two side agreements to the North American

Free Trade Agreement (1994), namely the

North American Agreement on Labour

Cooperation, states that the ministerial

council of the Commission for Labour

Cooperation shall promote cooperative

activities between the parties with regard

to, among others, the equality of women

and men in the workplace (article 11).

The effects of trade liberalization on

women are context-specic and difcult

to generalize, and the gender-related

implications of trade measures should

be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

UNCTAD has developed a methodological

approach for carrying out ex ante gender-

related assessments of trade reforms.

Inclusion of gender-related

considerations in trade instruments

Second, gender-related considerations

should be included in the text of trade

instruments such as trade agreements.

There has been a shift in the way gender

equality issues are addressed within trade

agreements. In the past, reference to

such issues was mainly included in the

preambles of agreements or addressed as

cross-cutting issues.

For example, the African, Caribbean

and Pacic Group of States–European

Union Partnership Agreement,

in its

preamble and articles 1, 9, 11, 20, 25,

31 and 31a, states the respect of the

parties for international conventions

regarding women’s rights; recommends

that systematic account be taken of the

situation of women and gender issues in

all areas, whether political, economic or

social; states that gender issues, along

with other cross-cutting themes, should be

mainstreamed into all areas of cooperation

and be eligible for European Community

support; recommends that peacebuilding

and conict prevention and resolution

activities include women; and asserts the

need to address gender inequality and

violence against women and to involve

women in strategies and programmes on

HIV/AIDS prevention and care. In its chapter

on thematic and cross-cutting issues,

the Agreement mandates that technical

cooperation should create the appropriate

framework to “integrate a gender-sensitive

approach and concerns at every level

of development cooperation including

macroeconomic policies, strategies and

operation; and encourage the adoption

of specic positive measures in favour of

women” (article 31(a) and (b)).

UNCTAD, 2017, Trade and Gender Toolbox, advance edition, available at

http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DITC/Gender-and-Trade/Trade,-Gender-and-Development.aspx.

Signed in Cotonou in 2000, to replace the Lomé Conventions; revised in 2005 and 2010; and set to expire in February 2020.

For more details on the examples provided, see UNCTAD, 2009, Mainstreaming gender in trade policy,

TD/B/C.I/EM.2/2/Rev.1, Geneva, 19 March.

entrepreneurship and access to science,

technology and innovation; and for the

setting up of trade and gender committees

to operationalize the relevant chapters of

the agreements (articles 14.3 and 14.4

of the former and articles N bis-03 and

N bis-04 of the latter).

Why are the new free trade

agreements including gender

considerations in a bolder manner?

New free trade agreements may include

gender considerations for a number of

reasons, including the following:

(a) More women than before are involved in

trade policymaking, including at senior

levels;

(b) An increasing number of women are

trading in international markets and own

or manage export rms;

to raising the relevance of gender

equality issues in the development

debate;

(d) There is increased awareness about

the gender dimension of trade policy,

including as a result of research work

conducted by international organizations

and academia;

(e) There is widespread belief that trade

can be instrumental to long-lasting

development only if it is more inclusive

and its benets more equally shared.

Such reasons may also be behind the

initiative of some members of the World

Trade Organization to issue, on the margins

of the eleventh Ministerial Conference

in December 2017, a joint ministerial

declaration on trade and women’s

economic empowerment.

Policy implications

With regard to the trade and gender

chapters of the Chile–Uruguay and Canada–

Chile free trade agreements, a number of

features may be noted, as follows:

(a) Specic gender-related standards that

could affect trade under the agreements

are not included and, instead, reference

is made to the implementation of gender

equality commitments included in global

conventions;

(b) Milestones or specic goals are not

included;

In more recent trade agreements, gender

equality issues are addressed in specic

chapters, signicantly shifting the visibility

of such issues within trade instruments.

For example, the Chile–Uruguay free

trade agreement (2016) recognizes the

importance of gender mainstreaming for

achieving inclusive economic growth, as

well as the key role that gender equality

polices can play in fostering socioeconomic

development; recognizes that trade is an

engine for development and women’s

increased participation in domestic and

international economies as a means to

ensure sustainable economic development;

and conrms gender commitments taken

within multilateral conventions, in particular

those related to equal pay for equal work,

maternity protection for women workers,

protection for domestic workers and the

reconciliation of professional and family life

(chapter 14, articles 14.1 and 14.2).

In addition, Canada and Chile have agreed

to amend, with respect to investment

and trade and gender, the Canada–Chile

free trade agreement (1997). Chapter N

bis on trade and gender acknowledges

“that international trade and investment

are engines of economic growth, and that

improving women’s access to opportunities

and removing barriers... enhances their

participation in national and international

economies, and contributes to sustainable

economic development”; and that

“women’s enhanced participation in the

labour market [and access to] economic

resources contribute to sustainable and

inclusive economic growth, prosperity,

competitiveness and the well-being of

society” (article N bis-01). In addition, the

parties afrm their commitment to “adopt,

maintain and implement effectively their

gender equality laws, regulations, policies

and best practices” and to promote public

knowledge about them, and reafrm their

commitment to implement the obligations

under the Convention on the Elimination

of all Forms of Discrimination against

Women and other international agreements

addressing gender equality (articles N bis-

01 and N bis-02).

Both free trade agreements include

almost identical provisions for cooperation

activities from which women can benet,

in areas such as skills enhancement,

nancial inclusion, agency and leadership,

UNCTAD/PRESS/PB/2017/2 (No. 53)

civil society and the private sector in the

implementation of agreements;

parties to the agreements on issues of

immediate relevance to women;

(d) Strengthening capacity-building,

especially if one party is a developing

country.

The new ways in which some countries are

addressing gender-related issues in free

trade agreements, and the commitments

made by some other countries and

regional groups to make trade and gender

chapters a regular feature of future free

trade agreements,

may have implications

for the eleventh Ministerial Conference.

A joint declaration on trade and women’s

economic empowerment may pave the way

for more in-depth discussions in future, and

would help to realign perceptions of gender

neutrality in trade policy.

apply to the trade and gender chapters;

(d) Harmonization of gender-related

legislation between the parties is not

mandated;

(e) Potential impacts of trade liberalization

pursued under the agreements on

women’s well-being and economic

empowerment are not addressed.

The inclusion of trade and gender chapters

in new free trade agreements is a welcome

step, yet such chapters remain a light

component.

However, such developments should

not be overlooked, as they encompass a

number of positive features, including the

following:

(a) Raising the prole of gender equality

issues in the trade discourse;

(b) Encouraging broader participation by

Contact

Ms. Simonetta Zarrilli

Chief, Trade, Gender and

Development Programme

Division on International Trade

in Goods and Services,

and Commodities

Tel.: 41 22 917 56 22

[email protected]

Press Ofce

41 22 917 58 28

[email protected]

www.unctad.org

The European Community is envisaging including a gender chapter in an update to the trade agreement with Chile,

due to be negotiated soon, and possibly in other future trade negotiations (see C Malmström, 2017,

Trade matters to women; women matter to trade, presented at the International Forum on Women and Trade,

Brussels, 20 June).