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MAINSTREAMING GENDER IN FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS ABOUT THE PAPER
This report presents recommendations to boost the participation of women in trade through free trade agreements.
Policymakers and trade negotiators will find a new toolkit to gauge gender responsiveness in their agreements. These lessons are based on a research assessment of 73 selected free trade agreements in force among 25 Commonwealth countries, and top-line recommendations and model clauses for countries to adapt.
The recommendations include embedding gender provisions in the preamble, leveraging corporate social responsibility, using reservations, waivers and general exceptions, and strengthening monitoring and dispute settlement mechanisms.
Publisher: International Trade Centre (ITC)
Title: Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements
Publication date and place: July 2020, Geneva
Page count: 48
Language: English
ITC Document Number: SIVC-20-31.E
Citation: International Trade Centre (2020). Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements. ITC, Geneva.
For more information, contact: Judith Fessehaie ([email protected])
For more information on SheTrades, see https://shetrades.com
ITC encourages the reprinting and translation of its publications to achieve wider dissemination. Short extracts of this paper may be freely reproduced, with due acknowledgement of the source. Permission should be requested for more extensive reproduction or translation. A copy of the reprinted or translated material should be sent to ITC.
Digital image(s) on the cover: © Shutterstock
© International Trade Centre (ITC) 2020
ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.
ITC, Palais des Nations, 1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland (www.intracen.org)
iv Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements Foreword
Gender equality is fundamental for economic growth and sustainable development, and can be a force for change.
Trade policies are beginning to reflect this. The fact that 127 countries have joined the 2017 Buenos Aires World Trade Organization Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment is a testament to this.
There is still a long way to go. An examination of more than 70 free trade agreements across 25 countries reveals that only 40% explicitly mention gender. Almost 70% have a limited level of gender responsiveness.
Free trade agreements are building blocks for larger, more integrated markets, and they open up opportunities in global value chains. In reality, the opportunities differ for women and men.
This publication answers the call of policymakers and trade negotiators to provide a practical guide to create more inclusive accords. Gender mainstreaming ensures that these agreements promote more equitable opportunities rather than perpetuate inequalities.
It offers a tool to measure the gender responsiveness of existing agreements, share best practices and provide concrete recommendations with model clauses to negotiate future trade accords.
I would like to thank the Government of the United Kingdom for its longstanding support of ITC’s work on women and trade over the past decade and the SheTrades Initiative, which made this publication possible.
The International Trade Centre will continue to do its part by helping policymakers make their trade strategies more inclusive, through specialized toolkits, such as this publication, as well as SheTrades Outlook, an online policy tool on women and trade.
Our hope is that this knowledge sparks thought, commitment and action within the trade and development community. As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the beginning of the Decade of Action towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the impetus to act is clearer than ever.
Dorothy Tembo Executive Director a.i. International Trade Centre
Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements v Acknowledgements
The International Trade Centre expresses its gratitude to those who have contributed to the production of this publication.
Amrita Bahri, Co-Chair for Mexico, WTO Chair Programme, and Assistant Professor of Law, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), prepared this report under the guidance of Judith Fessehaie (ITC).
Ms. Bahri dedicates this paper to Fernanda Michua, a brilliant student at ITAM whom we recently lost, and thanks the following ITAM research assistants for their assistance in this publication: Guillermo Moad, Francisco Solano, Elke Mobayed Davids, Eva Andrea Morales Ortiz and Santiago Carriles.
ITC would like to thank Vanessa Erogbogbo and Anders Aeroe for their leadership and guidance, and Lorand Bartels, Colette van der Ven and Liva Andersone for the useful comments. ITC also thanks Anahita Vasudevan, Jacqueline Salguero Huaman and Aditi Pandey (all ITC) for their support, feedback and comments.
Judith Fessehaie, Anahita Vasudevan, Natalie Domeisen and Anne Griffin (all ITC) managed the editorial production of the report. Jennifer Freedman and Natalie Domeisen edited the report. Serge Adeagbo and Franco Iacovino (both ITC) provided digital printing services.
ITC thanks the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development for its longstanding support of ITC’s SheTrades initiative over the past decade, which made this publication possible.
vi Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements Contents
About the paper iv Foreword v Acknowledgements vi Acronyms ix Executive summary x
CHAPTER 1 . GENDER IN TRADE AGREEMENTS: WHY AND HOW? 1 Gender equality advances economic development 1 Free trade agreements can promote gender equality 1 Four blocks to gender mainstreaming in agreements 3
CHAPTER 2 . HOW TO MEASURE GENDER RESPONSIVENESS? 4 Behind the gender assessment survey 4 Using the framework 4 Survey scores 4
CHAPTER 3 . GETTING INSPIRED: LEARNING FROM TRADE AGREEMENTS 6 A snapshot: Trade agreements in 25 Commonwealth countries 6 How did the 73 agreements fare? 6 Most are limited 8 Takeaways from three agreements 8 Best practice examples 10 Background for policymakers 12
CHAPTER 4 . TEN RECOMMENDATIONS AND MODEL CLAUSES 13 1. Craft a gender-explicit preamble 14 2. Highlight access to skill development 14 3. Encourage research and impact assessment 15 4. Include minimum legal standards 16 5. Explore reservations, waivers and exemptions 17 6. Consider a gender-focused exception 17 7. Encourage corporate social responsibility 18 8. Set up gender committees for monitoring 18 9. Provide a compulsory dispute settlement mechanism 19 10. Offer enforcement remedies 20
Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements vii APPENDICES 21 Appendix I: Gender-responsive framework for free trade agreements 21 Appendix II: Survey for gender-responsive free trade agreements 21 Appendix III: Examples: Levels of gender responsiveness 25 Appendix IV: Glossary 32
ENDNOTES 36
REFERENCES 38
FIGURES
Figure 1: Trade deals: Limited, evolving or advanced gender responsiveness 5 Figure 2: Commonwealth agreements: Analysing gender responsiveness 7 Figure 3: Ten recommendations: Gender in free trade agreements 13
BOXES
Box 1: What is gender mainstreaming in free trade agreements? 2 Box 2: Building a gender-responsive survey framework 5
viii Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements Acronyms
Unless otherwise specified, all references to dollars ($) are to United States dollars, and all references to tons are to metric tons.
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa CPTPP Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership EAC East African Community FTA Free trade agreement GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade MSMEs Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs Small and medium-sized enterprises WTO World Trade Organization
Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements ix © Shutterstock.com
Executive summary
Gender in trade agreements creates fair opportunities
Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are a common good and a common goal. Both are preconditions for sustainable development and economic growth. To ensure that trade agreements create equitable opportunities and contribute to inclusive growth and development, the specific needs of men and women must be mainstreamed in their design, content and scope.
Gender mainstreaming in free trade agreements is here to stay. Many countries are including gender considerations in their trade accords. These provisions range from a simple demonstration of parties’ awareness that such issues must be considered in their trade agendas, to legally binding obligations and enforcement mechanisms to implement gender-related commitments.
Of the 292 agreements in force today and notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO), more than a quarter have at least one provision that explicitly mentions gender. The figure climbs to 243 if we also take into account gender-implicit provisions such as those on human rights, the social dimension of sustainable development and vulnerable groups.1
These deals recognize the role women play in international trade, and the need to eliminate gender discrimination and barriers that block their access to trade and commerce.
New framework, new roadmaps
What makes an agreement gender responsive, or almost gender-blind? Can we measure the gender responsiveness of a trade agreement? If yes, how? What are the key lessons for policymakers interested in making their agreements more inclusive?
The report is not suggesting that all countries should craft new trade agreements or revise their existing treaties in a gender-responsive manner. The ideal level of gender responsiveness that every trade accord could reach varies, and depends on the economic, political and cultural contexts of the countries involved.
x Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements Rather, this report recommends the use of a survey-based framework for countries to measure the gender responsiveness of their trade agreements, and then develop a roadmap to improve their future agreements, in line with needs, willingness and resources.
A snapshot: Free trade agreements in Commonwealth countries
Using the framework, this report studies the gender responsiveness of 73 trade agreements signed by 25 Commonwealth countries. Highlights include:
67% have ‘limited’ gender responsiveness. Accords at this level are gender-blind or gender- neutral, as they fail to mainstream gender concerns. 28% have an ‘evolving’ level of gender responsiveness. Accords at this level use some best practices to mainstream gender concerns, and have significant scope to improve. 5% have an ‘advanced’ level of gender responsiveness. Accords at this level use best practices, and there is no or only a negligible scope for further improvement. 35% have at least one gender-explicit provision. If gender-implicit provisions such as social development, human rights, labour or general anti-discrimination commitments are included, the count increases to about 60%. About 40% make no explicit reference whatsoever to gender. At best, most of them referred to General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) exceptions or public morals exceptions that might be interpreted to include gender considerations.
Getting inspired: Best practice in trade agreements
There are many ways to sensitize trade agreements to gender. Here are five strong, recent examples that can inspire policymakers and negotiators.
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
In the absence of a stand-alone gender chapter, gender concerns are in the chapter on development. The parties envisage women in different roles: as business owners, employees and consumers. Cooperation activities focus on information sharing, capacity building and enhancing access to markets for women.
Economic Community of West African States
The parties create institutions and procedures to implement gender-related commitments. The agreement subjects gender-related provisions to its dispute settlement system. Multiple gender-related provisions are drafted with binding expressions and not merely as best- endeavour commitments.
Canada–Israel and Canada–Chile agreements
Both include a stand-alone chapter on gender and trade. In cooperation activities, parties focus on improving women’s access to education and skill development in areas that can translate to high-paid job opportunities. Activities envisage women not merely as employees or labourers, but also as entrepreneurs, leaders, decision makers and scientists. The parties encourage their industries and enterprises to incorporate corporate social responsibility explicitly related to gender. Specialized consultation mechanisms are included to resolve gender-related disputes and disagreements. In each case, a gender-specific committee oversees and implements gender-related commitments. Canada–Israel subjects gender-related provisions to a binding dispute settlement mechanism.
Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements xi East African Community
It enhances the role of women in the cultural, social, political, economic and technological development of the parties’ economies. It outlines gender equality as a fundamental principle. The parties seek to promote gender balance in the composition of community institutions and in the election of the legislative assembly. It includes a stand-alone chapter titled ‘Enhancing the Role of Women in Socio-Economic Development’. It incorporates another gender-responsive agreement into its text (the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, which scores 60% in terms of its gender responsiveness and has multiple best practice elements to mainstream gender in trade agreements).
A checklist: Ten policy recommendations, with model clauses
Policymakers and trade negotiators can adopt these recommendations and proposed model clauses, in part or in full. These steps will increase the gender responsiveness of agreements in negotiation or that are set to be renegotiated.
Highlight Include Consider a Set up gender Offer access to skill minimum legal gender-focused committees for enforcement development standards exception monitoring remedies
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Craft a Encourage Explore Encourage Provide a binding gender-explicit research and reservations, corporate and compulsory preamble impact waivers and social dispute settlement assessment exemptions responsibility mechanism
xii Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements CHAPTER 1 – GENDER IN TRADE AGREEMENTS: WHY AND HOW?
CHAPTER 1 GENDER IN TRADE AGREEMENTS: WHY AND HOW?
Gender equality advances economic development
Women face many barriers to their participation in trade and commerce. These barriers include regulatory and cultural biases, maternity obstacles, employment restrictions, lack of access to capital and productive resources, skills mismatch and inadequate market information and business networks.2
In more than 100 countries, women are prohibited from holding certain jobs.3 Many governments restrict women’s right to own assets, as sons and daughters do not have equal rights to inherit assets from their parents.4 Women own just one in five exporting companies.5 Businesswomen are less likely than businessmen to belong to formal business networks. Women spend at least twice as much time as men on unpaid domestic work – but if this work is considered, women work longer hours than men.6
Gone are the days when gender inequality was seen as a purely ethical or moral concern. It is now recognized as a significant challenge to economic development, and achieving the economic empowerment of women has become a compelling business case.7 The global economy suffers when women – who account for half of the world’s working-age population – are not included and are blocked from contributing to growth and development. Inclusive growth is the cornerstone of sustainable development.8
Free trade agreements can promote gender equality
The economic empowerment of women and international trade share an intricate relationship, as effective regulation of the latter could support the former.9 The 2017 WTO Buenos Aires Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment reinforces this view.
The multilateral space of the WTO has limitations that make it difficult to accommodate gender concerns. Its negotiation wing requires the consensus of all members for any amendments or additions to existing laws. Its judicial function is at a crossroads.10 It seems difficult to reach a consensus at the WTO in the near future to draft a new agreement, legal provisions or an exception related to gender.
As multilateralism evolves, free trade agreements (FTAs) have shown great potential. Gender equality is slowly emerging as a policy norm in these accords. Trade pacts can help create a level playing field for women and distribute the benefits of free trade equally among women and men.11
This is not a new realization. The first gender-explicit provision can be traced back to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.12 Article 157 of the treaty states: ‘Each Member State shall ensure that the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value is applied.’13
More than a quarter of the 292 FTAs in force today and notified to the WTO have at least one gender-explicit provision.14 The last three years have been phenomenal in this respect.
In 2019, two FTAs with a dedicated chapter on gender entered into force.15 The European Union promised to ensure that trade-related aspects of gender would be adequately addressed in trade agreements.16 The European Parliament passed a resolution in 2018 to include gender equality consideration in all future EU trade accords.17 And in 2017, 70% of WTO Members signed a multilateral declaration on trade and women empowerment in which they committed to make trade work for women.
Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements 1 CHAPTER 1 – GENDER IN TRADE AGREEMENTS: WHY AND HOW?
One thing is now clear: the trade law community, which always understood that international trade was not a zero-sum game, recognizes that gender equality is not a zero-sum game, either. Everyone benefits from making trade fair and inclusive.
A growing number of countries are including gender considerations in their trade accords, albeit in very different ways.
9 Some FTAs have an entire chapter on gender, but no legal obligations. 9 Some FTAs have just a single provision, but it creates a strong legal obligation on the parties. 9 Several include these provisions in their main text; others load them in a side agreement, an annex or a protocol. 9 In some agreements, only general statements acknowledge the importance of inclusive trade and the role of women in trade and commerce. 9 Others contain reaffirming provisions, where members reiterate the legal commitments they have made under other international instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), International Labour Organization conventions or United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, general statements as well as reaffirming provisions are almost always put forth as best-endeavour promises. 9 Several agreements have cooperation-based provisions where members seek to work together to improve women’s access to trade. However, fulfilling these commitments often depends on the willingness and available resources of the parties. 9 Many agreements add a structural element, creating committees or institutions to oversee the implementation of gender-related provisions. But these committees often lack power or authority or even funding to carry out their functions. 9 In most accords, dispute settlement provisions do not apply to gender-related provisions. This means the gender-related provisions in most agreements today are not even enforceable.
Box 1 What is gender mainstreaming in free trade agreements?
Gender mainstreaming is a way to achieve gender equality. Mainstreaming gender means including gender considerations when trade accords are drafted and implemented. This process, by which parties seek to include gender perspectives in trade liberalization policies, should not be confused with the gender-impact assessment of trade agreements. Gender-impact assessment gauges either the projected or actual impact of FTAs on women in member countries. Mainstreaming affirms the commitment, understanding and political will of members to reduce gender inequality through trade policies and agreements. The process aims to maximize the positive impact and minimize the negative impact of these pacts for women in trade.
Although recent trends show that gender mainstreaming in FTAs is here to stay, there is still work to be done. Not all agreements have embraced this approach. Moreover, free trade agreements are no magic bullet; they have their own limitations.
2 Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements CHAPTER 1 – GENDER IN TRADE AGREEMENTS: WHY AND HOW?
Four blocks to gender mainstreaming in agreements
Lack of awareness to use trade agreements and policies to empower women. Scarcity of gender-disaggregated data to inform negotiations on how trade disciplines affect women. Insufficient political will to leverage trade agreements to empower women. Absence of expertise on gender issues within government departments responsible for carrying out trade negotiations.
Two questions emerge: What makes an agreement gender responsive, or almost gender-blind? How do we measure the gender responsiveness of a trade accord?
Gender responsiveness is the degree to which the legal text of a free trade agreement is sensitive, informed or committed to gender equality. This term is sometimes used interchangeably with other expressions such as ‘gender sensitivity’, ‘gender commitment’ and ‘gender consideration’.
The indicator of gender responsiveness does not assess the impact of a trade agreement on the empowerment of women. Nor does it evaluate whether an accord will have a positive or negative impact on the gender situation in a given country.
Levels of gender responsiveness can vary significantly in trade agreements. This report is not calling for a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Rather, it suggests that individual countries can improve gender responsiveness progressively, depending on their domestic context and conditions.
The impact of gender mainstreaming on women and trade will only become visible with the passage of time. In the meantime, this report recommends that trade negotiators and policymakers use the step-by-step guide in this report – the first systematic framework – to draft gender-responsive agreements.
Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements 3 CHAPTER 2 – HOW TO MEASURE GENDER RESPONSIVENESS?
CHAPTER 2 HOW TO MEASURE GENDER RESPONSIVENESS?
This chapter presents a new methodology that enables countries to gauge the gender responsiveness of their trade agreements, based on a 20-question survey.
The results can guide countries to develop a roadmap for drafting gender-responsive agreements. It offers insights that help them tailor their negotiations to their own economic, political and cultural contexts.
Behind the gender assessment survey
This gender assessment framework is based on ‘maturity framework’ methodology. Maturity frameworks measure capabilities and identify actions to increase them. These frameworks are used in a wide range of sectors, from cognitive science to engineering. This is the first time this approach has been used to measure gender responsiveness.
It has three parts: dimensional, benchmarking and diagnostic.
Dimensional. Analysing gender content from different perspectives allows us to pinpoint where a free trade agreement performs well or poorly. This allows policymakers and negotiators to spot where significant upgrading could improve the overall gender responsiveness of an agreement.
Benchmarking. This shows how well a given agreement performs compared to other ones. A standardized set of metrics shows levels of gender responsiveness, which can encourage a culture of accountability and continuous improvement among negotiators and policymakers.
Diagnostic. A broad assessment that guides decisions to negotiate, revise or renegotiate a treaty to make it more gender responsive. Evaluating the current gender responsiveness of agreements influences future trade negotiations and dialogues.
Using the framework
Policymakers can learn more about their trade agreements and decide whether to make them more responsive to gender. Negotiators can assess the gender responsiveness of clauses and preliminary texts under ongoing trade negotiations and draft FTAs. Researchers and academics can apply this framework to future trade pacts and pursue this new field of investigation in teaching and researching trade law and gender.
Survey scores
The framework is based on a 20-question survey (see Appendix I). Each question has an identical impact factor.18 All questions have three possible answers.
4 Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements CHAPTER 2 – HOW TO MEASURE GENDER RESPONSIVENESS?
A different weight has been assigned to each answer. The maximum score per question is one point, and the minimum can be zero points:
‘limited gender responsiveness’ is worth zero points; ‘evolving gender responsiveness’ is worth 0.5 point; ‘advanced gender responsiveness’ is worth one point.
All 20 questions focus on the text of the trade agreement. Some also address implementation, as they assess whether a given FTA has procedural, institutional and dispute settlement frameworks to enforce these provisions.
Each question has the same value and contributes equally to the overall score for an agreement. Once all questions are answered, the agreement receives a score that corresponds to its maturity level.
There are three maturity levels: limited, evolving and advanced. An agreement is:
Limited. A score below or equal to 33.33%; Evolving. A score more than 33.33% and less than or equal to 66.66%; Advanced. A score of more than 66.66%.
A trade negotiator, a policymaker or a researcher assessing a particular trade agreement can answer the questionnaire.
Figure 1 Trade deals: Limited, evolving or advanced gender responsiveness
Level 3: Advanced