Transcript Gender & Trade

Gender, Globalisation & Trade
Ritu Dewan
Director
Centre for Development Research & Action
China-India Feminist Economics Workshop
Gender dimensions of paid and unpaid work in
China and India
Kunming, China 26-28 September 2014
[email protected]
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Structure
1. Locating trade & trade liberalisation
2. Gender & trade inter-linkages
3. Sector Case: Agriculture
4. Sector Case: Textiles
5. Sector Case: Marine
6. In Conclusion
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1: Locating Trade &
Trade Liberalisation…
1. Formalisation of rules & mechanisms
2. Doha, etc: claims & reality. Egs Loss of special
preferences; Banana exports to EU; cotton; small farmers
3. WTO & GATS: banking, insurance, health, transport,
education, energy,
telecom, tourism
4.
2,500 bilateral & regional trade & investment agreements
5.
Neo-liberalism; DC v/s UDC; Mobile K & Immobile Labour
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…1: Locating Trade &
Trade Liberalisation.
6. Processes of trade liberalisation in developing
countries, & trade-related policies of other countries
at national & international levels, result in production
& employment-displacement effects.
7. Under-capitalised entrepreneurs, lower skilled
workers, & women face difficulties in competing with
larger & well-resourced foreign enterprises that
have added advantage of new technologies,
sophisticated products, & advanced sectors.
8. Revenue losses as excuse for closure of social service
schemes.
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2. Gender & Trade Interlinkages…
Supply responses
• Women as producers are restricted at a certain production
level in terms of technology used & scale of production due
to lack of access to various forms of capital.
Resource allocation within economies & households
• This directly impacts women’s productive capacities & also
the rank at which they can participate in the labour force
Low labour productivity
• Adversely impacts their skill-sets & loss of competitive edge
as economic agents.
Basic is access to ownership, control & distribution of
productive resources of all forms
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…2: Gender & Trade Interlinkages
Complex; ambiguous; contradictory –
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Income / returns
Employment
Competitively priced consumer goods
Fewer assets to withstand liberalisation
Increasing informalisation
Weak bargaining power
Work & wage differentials
Export-led growth at expense of women.
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Women Workers: Sectoral Pattern: India
Sector
2004-05
2009-10
Primary
72.26
66.99
0.28
0.3
11.75
11.34
Utilities
0.03
0.08
Construction
1.89
5.11
Trade & Hotels
4.14
4.55
0.4
0.43
Financing, Real Estate, Insurance
0.63
1.05
Community, Social, Personal Service
8.61
10.16
100.00
100.00
Mining & Quarrying
Manufacturing
Transport & Communications
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India’s Trade Pattern
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3: Sector Case: Agriculture…
Share of Agriculture:
To GDP –
To Empl –
1950-51
58 pc
88 pc
2012-13
13.7 pc
55 pc
1. GDP per capita of Agri Workers is one-fifth of
Non-Agri Workers
2. Marginalisation, Alienation, Displacement
3. Declining State investment
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…3: Sector Case: Agriculture…
AAG
Pre ‘Reform’
Post ‘Reform’
Food-grains:
2.9 pc
1.2 pc
Rice Yield:
3.5 pc
0.9 pc
Cotton Yield:
4.1 pc
– 0.7 pc
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…3: Sector Case: Agriculture…
• Subsidies & dumping
• Diluting import restrictions (30 in 1 yr)
• Free entry of seed & pesticide MNCs
• Unregulated input & output markets
• Poverty among Farmer HH 10 pc higher than nonfarmers in rural India
• Farmers as net purchasers of food
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…3: Sector Case: Agriculture…
Assetlessness, Feminisation & De-feminisation
Hence, even if trade liberalisation does unlock
export opportunities, it is unlikely that women
farmers will have the capacity & ability to take
advantage
Post-WTO, many farms have moved to exportoriented commercial cultivation, leading to
consolidation of land holdings. As big farms are
generally capital-intensive, consolidation of land
reduces employment, displacing women first.
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...3: Sector Case: Agriculture.
• A peasant suicide every 30 minutes
• 45 peasant suicides per day
• 16000 suicides per year
• 3,50,000 since 1997
• Levels of Indebtedness & ‘Growth’
• Maharashtra – 20 %
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4: Sector Case: Textiles...
Cotton & Textiles
• Cancun 2010: Cotton included as explicit item in
Agenda by Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad. BUT draft
text merely pledged WTO review of textiles with no
mention of eliminating subsidies or compensation.
•
West African cotton farmers crushed by richcountry subsidies which reduced prices: eg, USA’s
$3 billion pa subsidy to its 25,000 cotton farmers
•
WTO suggested that West African countries be
encouraged to diversify out of cotton altogether.
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…4: Sector Case: Textiles…
 Brunt of adjustments shifted to manufacturers & their
employees, including low-skilled women producers.
 End of MFA led to reallocation of jobs & shifting of
markets from Maldives to China, India to Bangladesh.
 Shift to technologically advanced methods to increase
productivity, affecting ‘semi-skilled’ female labour
force previously employed.
 In India, dramatic fall in women’s employment in
garment industry.
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…4: Sector Case: Textiles.
• Working conditions: excessively long hours,
lack of freedom of association, continuous
inhaling of toxic substances, prohibition of rest
breaks, etc.
• As competition is expected to intensify after
final elimination of quotas, working conditions
will deteriorate further because of more intense
pressures to cut production costs.
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5: Sector Case: Fishing & EPZs…
1. Over-exploitation of marine resources.
2. Super profits accruing to exporters.
3. Occupation of coast through legal & illegal methods.
4. Drastic rise in sea-pollution; decline in production.
5. Violation of CRZ & environmental laws.
6. Displacement.
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…5: Sector Case : Fishing & EPZs.
1. 90 percent are women ‘employees’; nomarriage clause; proof of non-pregnancy.
2. Strict gender-based division of labour.
3. Conditions of work wrt EU Quality Control.
4. Health & Occupational safety.
5. 98 hour week; overtime; toilet coupons; unpaid
weekly ‘off’; no leave whatsoever.
6. Majority migrants; conditions of stay; mobility.
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6: In Conclusion…
1. Gender-disaggregated data
2. Categorisation of trade sectors & sub-sectors
3. Gendered value chain analyses (identification
of employment trends; primary & support
activities; tracing profits & losses; etc)
4. Employment conditions
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...6: In Conclusion...
5. Capacity Building & Financial Strengthening:
Training, skill up-gradation, provision of
subsidised services, & financial support to
enhance women’s capacity to compete in
business & in labour market. Eg: ICT; Women
entrepreneurs & MSMEs.
6. Gendering programs: IFIs, donors, intergovernmental organisations, etc.
7. Strategies & strategic alliances: Multi-faceted &
multi-level between gender equality advocates &
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key stakeholders
…6: In Conclusion…
8. Pre-project Rapid Gender Assessment Surveys
9. Formation of sector-wise multi-agency
steering committees
10.Systematic institutionalised evaluation via
appropriate gender budgeting tools per project
11.Barriers & Non Tariff Barriers identification &
evaluation
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...6: In Conclusion.
12. Monitoring gendered impacts of trade
policies & agreements to hold govts
accountable for their commitments to
gender equality, via
i.
Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM)
ii. Sustainable Impact Assessments (SIA)
iii. Gender Trade Impact Assessment (GTIA)
iv. Poverty & Social Impact Analysis (PSIA).
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……thank you………
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