Concepts and Approaches to Gender Mainstreaming in Trade: Its gendered impacts on women producers an

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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 Africa
• AFRICAN TRADE POLICY CENTRE
• Inception Workshop on Mainstreaming Gender into
  Trade Policy
• 21- 22 April 2009
• Presentation by Karin Ulmer, APRODEV
• k.ulmer_at_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 and
• Technology 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 womens 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 economies

• Poverty 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 womens 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 marketsGet 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 SDT
  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 womens 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 (womens employment, share of credits,
  decision-making, autonomy in entrepreneurial
  activities)
• b. Possibly, limit number of gender sensitive
  products per country
• c. 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 MeatParts 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.