CARIBBEAN GENDER AND TRADE NETWORK

THE IMPACT OF THE TRADE LIBERALISATION ON WOMEN’S LIVELIHOODS AND THEIR RESPONSE

Beijing+10 meets WTO+10 – The Bird in the Hand


BACKGROUND

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was formally established on January 1995 and is the only international body dealing with the regulation of trade between nations.

The WTO came out of the generalised Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) Uruguay Round of negotiations. The WTO works through a set of “Agreements voluntarily entered into by its members negotiated and signed by the majority of trade nations”. Under the WTO the new areas of Investment Services and Intellectual Property Rights were added. Under WTO rules all countries must receive similar treatment. This is problematic for small economies like the Caribbean, which cannot compete with grant economies.

Since the creation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995 and the Ministerial Declaration on Coherence in Global Policy Making, the IFIs have consistently expanded their involvement in trade liberalisation by influencing the policies of borrowing countries through such measures as: conditioned lending; shaping the agenda and goals of trade-related technical assistance and research, and ex ante mechanisms or instruments that tie lending to adoption of “good policies”, such as the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA)

Developed for the purpose of rating the policy and institutional performance of borrowing countries’ governments, the CPIA establishes one-size-fits-all ‘good’ policy norms. This powerful instrument helps determine the size of a country’s allocation of loan and grant resources; the principal policy conditionalities for new operations; and its debt threshold or ceiling.

The constraints to developing country policy-making imposed by the rules of trade agreements and the trade-related policies promoted by the IFIs are compounded by skewed policy decision-making within the IFIs due to the concentration of voting power in the hands of a few developed countries. Under the ’Bretton Woods Institutions’ governing structure, five countries together control almost 40 per cent of the votes.

The promise of national ownership of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) processes and consequent commitment to recognise governments’ policy space has not been delivered, as evidenced by the IFIs’ own evaluations. The IFIs’ trade-related operations are expanding in many countries even though PRSPs rarely contain substantive analysis of trade-related policy options and preferences. Moreover, national authorities and IFIs are usurping the policy space that should be used for open parliamentary and social dialogue, debate and decision-making. PRSPs should be country-owned through inclusion of parliaments and civil society in their formulation.

The Beijing Platform for Action was the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing 4-15 September 1995. It aims at accelerating the implementation of the Nairobi forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women, and at removing all the obstacles to women’s active participation in al spheres of public and private life, through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making.

The Beijing Platform for Action has defined twelve critical areas of concern, affecting the advancement of women and the achievement of equality between women and men. These are:

1. The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women
2. nequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to education and training
3. Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to health care and related services
4. Violence against women
5. The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those living under foreign occupation
6. Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive activities and in access to resources
7. Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels
8. Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women
9. Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and promotion and protection of the human rights of women
10. Stereotyping of women in equality in women’s access to and participation in all communication systems, especially in the media
11. Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the safeguarding of the environment
12. Persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl-child
    
    Since 1995, there is evidence that economic and political forces have been responsible for measures and policies, which run counter to the commitments made by our governments for implementing the Platform for Action.

The WTO mandate is as much a product of International and Caribbean governments as it the Beijing Platform for Action yet the two are in contradiction to each other. To compound this anomaly, and as if to blind eyes to the impending disaster of corporate-led trade liberalisation, these same governments have in record numbers signed on to the Millennium Development Goals:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development
  
  
  

CONTEXT

The Caribbean context shows:

(a) Accelerated loss of agricultural land to tourism and housing – promotion of tourism over agriculture

(b) Persistent poverty resulting from structural adjustment and the negative impact of trade liberalisation on populations – agriculture is most affected

(c) The importance of agriculture to the region cannot be over-emphasised, not only in terms of its economic benefits, but also for its social, cultural and political benefits in relation to food security – having enough to eat, and food sovereignty – having control of what you eat

(d) Moves to privatise water in many countries of the region

(e) Increasing indebtedness – in some countries, the external debt is as high as 65% of the Gross Domestic Product

(f) The social disintegration is manifested through rising crime, violence, drug trafficking and the high drop out rate of males from the formal school system and the increasing number of guns in their hands

(g) Increase in criminality and violence – gang activity is prevalent in many countries. There are reports of gang rape of girls, and more violence in schools

(h) Increase in the presence of guns in the society. The illicit use of small arms in the region is considered a threat to peace and security. This is connected to the drug trade, a strong alternative to unemployment

(i) There is an increase in suicide among farmers, and even among children. Many women have migrated in search of greener pastures, leaving young children behind. Some men and women farmers have publicly declared themselves to be the “marijuana farmers”

(j) Rampant violence against women

(k) Trafficking in women has become a way of life as families give their young girls to older men as a way of getting an education, for example, and there is a lack of legislation to prevent it.

(l) The women’s movement has been impacted negatively by insufficient funding, and few women are able to be consistent activists and lobbyists on issues

INTRODUCTION

In 2005, it will be ten years since the formation of the WTO. In 2005, it will also be ten years since governments signed on to the Beijing Platform for Action. What has trade meant for women, and how have women’s issues impacted on trade processes?

The rationale behind trade liberalisation suggests that the elimination of barriers to trade, the dismantling of protective regimes and the removal of government control over the market will fuel competition. This competition it is argued will in turn generate efficiently and productively. However the Caribbean region not only has to come to terms with the loss of the preferential market but with its inability to gain adequate access to European and North American markets. What has this meant for the goals of the Beijing Platform for Action?

Trade Policy and Gender

It is clear from the trends that it is trade policy which lays the foundation for socio-economic development and to the extent that these developments impacts significantly on the lives of men and women in Caribbean societies, a focus on gender issues in trade is necessary because the welfare of men, women and children throughout our societies can be determined by trade policy.

Antrobus classifies gender issues in trade as follows:

Economic issues: housework and other un-waged work; salary and wages discrimination against women in the work place, labour force segmentation, treating women as a reserve labour force, which results in lower wages for women and less job security;

Social issues: The link between the role of men and women in economic production in the public sphere, and social reproduction, reproductive health, care of children and the elderly in the private sphere; and women’s education;

Political issues: Gender-based hierarchies in households, the work-place and community:

Cultural issues: The vesting of women’s right to land in the family and the implication of this for agriculture policy, women’s role as consumers and in determining household expenditures; the implications of women’s multiple roles as farmers and as home-makers for pr

How does Trade Impact on Women?

When a gender analysis of the impact of trade policies is applied, the indications are that women are potentially the most vulnerable groups, as the processes of economic restructuring takes a foothold in the Caribbean. Women have suffered from the loss of employment in those countries where the apparel and manufacturing sub-sectors provided employment for large numbers of women, who have responsibility for families because of the prevalence of female-headed households, which could potentially magnify the negative impact, which is further compounded by the subordinate position of women in society.

The loss of the Caribbean’s comparative advantage in terms labour costs has led to a diversion of trade, as the multinationals relocate their production processes to other countries to take advantage of the reduction in tariffs, cheaper labour and overall lower operational costs.

Women involved in agricultural production increasingly face the challenge of having to compete with the importation of cheaper agricultural products, which militates against efforts at enhanced productivity in this sector. This has led not only to a reduction in the domestic market for such produce, but also to a significant lowering of the income of family-sized producers, who are forced to sell at lower prices in order to compete.

These impacts have been compounded by the banana situation, following the loss of preferential trading arrangements leading to the restructuring of the banana industry. The impact on the OECS economies has been immediate and very visible bringing about changes in the social fabric of the society. For example, St. Lucia recorded a massive reduction in revenue earned from bananas. Banana producers face an uncertain future as the preferential access to European markets has been removed forcing them to compete with cheaper bananas grown on larger US-owned plantations in Latin America.

As women are the backbone of this sector, the prediction is that they will face severe hardships, not only as farmers in the own right who earn an income from this sector, but as managers of the families. If their male partners also suffer a loss of income, this has a ripple effect on the family and has been identified as one the contributing factors in the rise of poverty in St. Lucia.

The gender impact of trade liberalization has therefore been most evident in the area of employment. The experience of the male and female banana farmers in the Windward Islands is perhaps the most dramatic case in the region.

Linked to this is the inadequacies of Caribbean negotiators who have tended to focus primarily on market access, placing little or no attention to ensuring protection for domestic producers, such as small farmers and small business firms, who are unable to compete with the heavily subsidized (agricultural) US companies. Consequently, the Caribbean agricultural sector has experienced some of the most adverse impacts of trade liberalization, ranging from a reduction in international market access to competing at the domestic level with foreign produce, which have flooded local markets.

COUNTRY SITUATIONS

GRENADA

• 1. Underlying Factors
  

• Negative :
  

• Scarcity of resources
• Unwillingness to adapt
• Lack of interest
• Culture and deception
• Lack of information/ignorance
• Haphazard development planning
• Lack of political will
  

• Positive :
  

• Trained personnel available
• Growing acceptance of the value of information and consultation
• Greater stakeholders participation
• Mainstreaming of social development agenda
  

• 2. Who are affected most?

• The poor and marginalized
• Rural households, women, youth, elderly, primary producers, small entrepreneurs.

• 3. Gender related issues

• a. As a result of the trade liberalization, there has been an increase in criminalization of the economy, for example, the drug economy, prostitution, trafficking in women

• Increase in drug related violence (geared to young men)

• b. Impact on female households

• Implications for single parents
• Greater decision making involvement by women.
  
  
  

ANGUILLA & CURACAO

&

• 1. Key Issues
  

• Lack of autonomy due to colonial status
• Lack of diversification within the economies (tourism, banking – offshore banking)
  

• 2. Underlying Factors
  

• Positive :
  
  • Access to (resources)
  • The potential for alignment with progressive forces in Europe.

• Negative :
  
  • Neocolonial status (colonial)
    

• 3. Groups Affected
  
  • The working poor and women in general through
    • structural adjustment programmes and cuts in social services
    • removal of protective barriers
    • erosion of social contracts particularly in England
    • social safety nets have been removed (formal and informal) and not being replaced

• As a result of liberalization there has been an increase in criminalization of the economy. For example, the drug economy, prostitution, trafficking in women.

• Increase in drug related violence (geared to young men)

• Increase in domestic violence
  
  
  
  
  

DOMINICA/ST-VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

Key Issues	Underlying Issues	Who are affected
Life Styles	Cultural Infiltration  Loss of community values  Individualities  Loss of bio-diversity	Youth  Families  Families  Farmers suffer
Technology	Improdved networking  Easy access  Prioritizing (economy)	Farmers    Poor
Access to credit facilities	Less cash flow  Low/no Investments in communities	Youth, women, poor men, marginalized farmers
Political divide	Stigmatization  Victimization	People (poor)
Monocrop economy	Too dependent  high importation bill  borrowing from international lending  institutions	Marginalized    National
Illiteracy	Inability to read and understand and make right choices	Families//societies and communities
Communication skills	Inability to articulate and negociate	Societies
Social Issues  Unemployment  Health  Migration  Education	Single parenting  Feminization of poverty  Brain drain	Women  Young men and women  Youth and professionals
Poor housing	Creation of slums  Aids, teenage preganancy  STD’s, gang related violence  Exploitation	Single parents  Women/youth  Yough/men  Poor and amrginalized youth

DOMINICA/ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES GENDER RELATED ISSUES

• Immasculation of men - macho - ness
• Women have to work longer hours, less pay, less time to spend with families
  

Youth :

• Divide between youth and elders
• No continuity in cultural, family, community life
  

Migration :

• Grandmothers raising children alone
  

Rest and Recreation :

• Less time for rest and recreation
  

Access to Credit :

• A great problem for women
  

Stigmatization
Culture, responsability
To family :

• Less women involved in politics
  
  
  
  
  

&

&

JAMAICA, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO/GUYANA NATURAL RESOURCES

Jamaica :

• Tourism, Bauxite, Agriculture and human resources
  

Trinidad & Tobago :

• Oil, Tourism, Culture
  

Guyana :

• Gold, Diamonds, Timber, Sugar
  
  

Key Issues

1. Economic

• Debt
• Devaluatino (Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago)
• Trade deficits
• Informal underground economies
  

2. Social

• Crime
• Drugs
• Poverty
• Lack of opportunity
• Party politics
• HIV/AIDS
  

• Poverty
  • Child labour as a survival strategy
  • Homelessness
  • Remittances
  • Barrel shipments
  • Poor police/citizen relations
  • Road fatalities (Guyana)
    

3. Political

• Partisan/Party Politics
  

Most Affected

• Children
• Women (especially single mothers)
• Economic burden
• Race (Guyana) (young black women are most affected)
• Drug mules
• Men - education disadvantaged in Jamaica/Violent crimes
  
  
  

THE IMPACT OF NAFTA ON THE DOMINICAN ECONOMY

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed between the USA and Canada with plans to include Mexico. This Free Trade Area was formed to create a market of some 363 million people mainly goods/services from the USA.

From the onset of the Agreement restricted the goods and services of small islands like Dominica who then lost all special considerations in the US Market e.g. (CBI).

The US intention was to create a new market for US Agro Industrial Products e.g. fertilizers, tractors, corn flakes, etc using cheap labour mainly women for duty free garment factories in Free Trade Zones. (Economic Processing Zones)

During these times Dominica experienced an influx of EPZ in garment and glove making. Under the CBI the garment industry realized a boom in profits and many young women were employed in the various factories.

The exploitation of women was even more gruelling in the conditions of work that these women experienced. Because of the feminization of poverty women who flocked for work in the factories were being paid very little wages without the representation unions and the labour commission. Some women were threatened with instant dismissal and in some cased women were asked to leave without any gratuity or wages, also physical abuse (no maternity leave or annual vacation).

Though the industry realized great profits but at the expense of the exploitation of women. This uneven playing field of so-called fee trade saw quotas of traditional exports such as yams, dasheen, and cut flowers. Trade fell drastically with heavy gluts in the market.

Transportation to and from work mostly social security not paid at nights was not provided so women were left unprotected while going home from work.

This added responsibility affected the household mostly (single parent) who had to daily care of their children for the school day and make their way to the farm after taking care of the household chores, to return later in the evening after a day on the farm, which did not end there but continued and flowed into another day, another week, another month, another year.

Less relaxation and recreation individually and collectively as a family.

Many young men and women who felt and saw the effects were forced to travel through the back door to neighbouring French countries Guadeloupe, Martinique putting their lives at risk. Many a mother lost a son or daughter to the back door due to the economic strain. These youths were not willing to go to the field and work and some of them were not equipped with the skills and qualification for other traditional jobs.

More money began chasing less goods. And while the wage bill decreased the National debt increased along with the GDP. Access to credit became more restricted for women of all lower income households. Social Services allocation in the national budget was drastically reduced. More professionals migrated further eroding the skills bank of the island. Children particularly (single parent) became barrel children with all the material goods but less of maternal love, care and protection. Thus and increase the many ills that plagued the society.

VIOLENCE

The alternative measures taken by many women in the Agricultural Sector due to the overflow of produce was a greater thrust towards banana which was a sure and steady income, this also intensified the work of women in the field, who own or lease land in difficult areas with no access to proper roads with long distances and no transportation. While the private sector reaped the economic benefits the poor became poorer and the rich got richer, an uneven balance of trade, which can be seen even more glaringly today.

THE BIRD IN THE HAND

“Once upon a time, there was an old woman, blind but wise.” It is the wisdom in spite of disability that flows through the narrative. The wise old woman is visited by some young people who want to test her knowledge. Is she as wise as the nation says she is, or is she a fraud? They journey to her home on the outskirts of the town. She lives alone.

Here age and youth come face to face, fulfilling the society’s stereotype of age as wisdom and youth as rebellion. As they tell the story, they prove the stereotype real. They were the holders of knowledge, and were parading their power “ against the perceived helplessness of the old woman. ” Entering the old woman’s house, one of the young people says “Old woman, I hold in my hand a bird, tell me whether it is living or dead?’ Prolonged silence follows this question because in the darkness of her blindness, the old woman does not know what is in their hands. In the silence another kind of light shines through as she turns the tables on them by saying “I don’t know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands.” Perhaps if she had said it is alive they would kill it, and if she had said it is dead, they would let it fly. She chose instead to tell them that the power of decisions and the power of responsibility lay in their hands.

In reinterpreting this fable, Toni Morrision changed the setting to language and writing, “the bird in the hand” becomes language, the old woman a practice writer herself. Is language dead or alive? She says that “ a dead language is not only one no longer spoken or written, it is also language that suppresses human potential, for example sexist language, racist language… It is language that promotes exclusion and dominance. It is literature that is discredited because it is critical.” So here the children are told that the life or death of language is their responsibility.

With the negative impacts overshadowing any possible gains, the Caribbean Gender and Trade Network (CGTN), the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA), DAWN Caribbean, UNIFEM, Women in Development Europe (WIDE) and the Caribbean Reference Group on External Trade Relations (CRG), have recovered language, and released it into a coordinated programme of negotiation with governments against the WTO.

The organisations have joined their efforts with other organisations, both women’s organisations and organisations consisting of both men and women.

The primary achievement in respect of globalisation has been resistance. These organisations have led the way of resistance in the Caribbean, and been a part of the global resistance as well. This effort, along with that of a range of other actors has helped to slow down the pace of globalisation world wide. In the English speaking Caribbean, it has led to our policy makers beginning to listen to what we have to say. Our proposals are just beginning to make sense. In a limited way our language is beginning to penetrate the official documents on trade.

Working Methodology

Five main methods of working have been employed

1. Research and Publications
2. Consultations of membership and communities of interests
3. Public education as well as economic literacy specially for members
4. Advocacy of an integrated rights agenda
5. Tools Design – Gender Indicators on Trade
   
   
   

Research and Publication

1998 - UNIFEM study of the impact of NAFTA on women of Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago; and a study on Women, Gender and Poverty in the Windward Islands.

2002 – DAWN Caribbean researched the impact of cheap vegetable imports on the livelihood of women vegetable producers in two villages: one in Grenada and the other in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

2003 – Caribbean Gender and Trade Network conducted a literature review on Gender and Trade in the English speaking Caribbean.

2004 - CAFRA intends to release later this year a study of women and the labour market.

Consultation

CGTN and CAFRA have always returned the findings of its research to the communities where the information was obtained. On return from participation at international meetings, it has been the practice to seek opportunity working through national level organisations to convene consultations on the outcomes of these meetings.

Public Education - Economic Literacy for members

Trade liberalization and globalization had always been a unit on CAFRA’s specilised training courses in feminist theory for its members in the late 1980s CAFRA made use of its general meetings as an opportunity to educate members on structural adjustment, globalisation, trade liberalization. As the Secretariat for CGTN, CAFRA has also ensured the participation of some of its members in any trade forum to which the organisation is invited. CAFRA, as the administrator for the CGTN, has also mounted several consultations on globalization and trade liberalisation for women across the region.

Wider audiences of men and women outside CAFRA’s and CGTN’s membership have also benefited from economic education in instances where, as a member of the CRG and Secretariat for the CGTN, CAFRA has been a prime organizer of consultations on a range of issues on globalization and trade liberalization at national, sub-regional, and regional levels for men and women.

Also as a member of the CRG and the Secretariat for the CGTN, CAFRA has been the prime energy of the National Working Committees on Trade initiated in 2003/4. These broad based committees are designed to build people’s capacity at the national level for tracking the course of trade negotiations, researching and understanding the issues, engaging their negotiators, and making proposals for demands during the negotiations. It is expected that over time members of the committees will have the capacity to function as resource persons on trade issues to their groups and communities.

CAFRA Suriname has initiated a three-year project “Taking our Stance, Strengthening Entrepreneurs towards Active Competitiveness”. The project aims to improve the position of local producers on the local as well as the international market.

1999 – 2002 The Network of NGOs, Trinidad and Tobago and CAFRA conducted training of women in politics, in an effort to get more women into local government.

2003-2004 Gender sensitive training for female politicians with the aim of getting more women to influence policy at parliament level.

2004 DAWN Caribbean held its anniversary celebrations and conference, and formulated strategies to address the negative impact of trade liberalization on livelihoods.

2004 IGTN, CAFRA, WINFA and CRG representatives were among thirty civil society representatives from twenty (20) commonwealth countries who participated in a consultation on the 2004 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting. Civil Society organizations called for trade agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services, to support government’s obligations to provide basic services like healthcare, education and water. They also urged Commonwealth Finance Ministers to advocate for financing mechanisms to compensate countries that undertake trade liberalization measures

Advocacy

The primary advocacy message has been that the people centered conventions agreed to at the level of the United Nations during the decade of the 1990s must remain centered in trade negotiations and not set aside as something apart from trade. Trade must function in the interest of, not against, human development.

CGTN and CAFRA have been accredited and present at all the WTO Ministerials from Singapore to Cancun and have had a pivotal role in the civil society mobilization and activism.

CGTN and CAFRA have also participated in the civil society summits on the FTAA and made statements on the nature and content of these agreements with a view to centering human beings in the negotiations.

CGTN and CAFRA have also been monitoring the Caribbean Single Market and Economy and have identified the areas of potential benefit to women. CGTN and CAFRA intend to intervene in the implementation of this regional agreement on behalf of women.

Tools Design – Gender Indicators on Trade

To strengthen its advocacy for people centered trade CAFRA has developed tools, which will assist policy makers and negotiators in so doing. The basis approach has been to:

• match the qualitative data revealed by the numerous gender impact studies of SAPs, NAFTA, WTO Ruling on Bananas,
• against the quantitative economic and social statistics of Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago for the corresponding period,
• Weigh the trends revealed against the projected benefits of CSME, FTAA, and EPA to identify the potential outcomes for women,
• Comparison of real outcomes for women and society of previous trade agreements against the projected outcomes will expose the areas critical to women and suggest ways in which women’s well being should be promoted and preserved.

The research findings will be launched early in 2005 in collaboration with the CGTN and other key partners.

Achievements in the fight against globalization

1. CARICOM governments are much more aware of the possibilities for resisting the pace if not the content of globalization due to the work of CAFRA, the rest of the women’s movement and other civil groups;

2. Women and the general public are educated and aware of how trade agreements affect their daily choices and the quality of their lives;

CONCLUSION

Many years of activism on this subject has shown how multi-dimensional the problem is and how multi-layered the solution has to be. We started to tackle the problem by first trying to understand what was happening in our lives, why it was happen and identified the spheres for activism to improve our well being. We work both alone and in concert with others in specified areas for defined periods. Networking and alliance building as well as longer term memberships and partnerships have been important to the incremental success of this work.

Beijing+10 has not been derailed by the Millennium Development Goals. Rather, these goals will be met when the Beijing Platform for Action is fully implemented, and when trade liberalization in its present form is defeated.

When Beijing+10 meets WTO+10, she will insist on not being squeezed to death! She will remind him that if particular care and attention is not paid to gender issues, women are as determined as Abigail Adams was “to foment a rebellion”

We have been able to resist and to inspire others to resist. Our aim is to transform. Resistance is only the beginning. Our hearts remain strong and our spirit resolute. We are also trying to build an alternative through the development of gender indicators on trade. We do not seek to reform globalization based on market liberalization but to eradicate it. We propose to build a world of social and economic equity, gender justice and sustainable development.