Can Trade Be Used to Promote Feminist Objectives: Evaluating Recent Innovations in Trade Policy
Paper Session
Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (EST)
- Chair: Alma Espino, University of the Republic Uruguay
Can Human and Labor Rights Commitments in EU Preferential Trade Arrangements Be Used to Eliminate Sexual Harassment of Women Farm Laborers in Agriculture in Kenya, Morocco, and Italy?
Abstract
In recent decades, the European Union has utilized preferential trade agreements with non-EU partners to promote human rights and decent work. The EU accession process requires new member states to meet legal benchmarks through adoption of the acquis comunitaire, including standards related to gender equality and workplace protections. More recently, the European Parliament and other EU institutions have launched a series of information-gathering and policy development processes to make EU trade policy more gender sensitive. My paper will assess the efficacy of EU trade agreements and policy measures in addressing sexual harassment of women farm laborers by examining three case studies. These case studies include the cut flower industry in two African trade partners (Kenya and Morocco) and in one EU member state (Italy). In part 1, the paper will set forth and discuss the international legal human and labor rights framework governing sexual harassment (CEDAW and relevant ILO standards). It will then discuss and analyze recent policy studies and measures being considered by the European institutions (the Parliament, Commission, and Council) in their efforts to make EU trade policy more gender sensitive. Part 2 of the paper will discuss and analyze each of the three case studies (cut flowers in Kenya and Morocco; migrant farm labor in Italy). Each subsection of Part 2 of the paper will outline the problem of sexual harassment in agriculture in the country being examined, explain the human and labor rights obligations in relevant EU trade arrangements with Morocco and Kenya (and, in the case of Italy, EU legislation and policy), and assess how useful EU trade and legal mechanisms are or can be to eliminate sexual harassment of women farm laborers in EU member states and trade partner states. Finally, the paper will conclude with comparative observations and recommendations for policy reform.Canada’s Feminist Trade Policy
Abstract
Amidst the decline in liberal internationalism and multilateralism, Canada has emerged as a champion of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. Since 2017, Canada’s has pursued a feminist trade policy geared to: (1) formulating domestic trade policies that identify and mitigate the gender-differential impacts of international trade flows and of international trade rules, and harnessing the potential of international trade to contribute to gender equality domestically and in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); (2) developing best practices for the formulation, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of gender chapters and gender non-discrimination provisions in bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) that can serve as the new international legal standard on gender and trade; and (3) agenda-setting in international policy dialogue, developing indicators and reporting practices, and formulating, implementing, monitoring and enforcing gender clauses in multilateral trade agreements. Using a feminist international political economy (IPE) lens, this chapter assesses Canada’s leadership on gender and trade in a post-neoliberal era. It takes stock of a range of policy initiatives aimed at leveraging trade for gender equality and makes a series of recommendations for how Canada can better deliver on its promise to use trade to improve the lives of women and other vulnerable communities.Gender and Labour Rights in Trade Agreements: The Case of the USMCA
Abstract
This paper examines the case of the negotiations and early implementation of the USMCA to evaluate the usefulness of gender provisions in labour rights chapters for promoting the rights of women workers in the member states. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) does not include a gender chapter despite the Canadian government’s efforts to include one, because of strong resistance from the Trump administration in the United States. As a result, the only chapter that addresses the links between gender and trade in any substantive fashion is the labour chapter (Chapter 23). The inclusion of this chapter in the main text of the agreement, rather than as a side-accord, does represent an improvement over NAFTA, since it means the contents of this chapter can be enforced through state-to-state dispute settlement.This article will address the controversies around the negotiation of the agreement related to gender and intersectionality and will look at early efforts to use Chapter 23 to promote the rights of women workers. The research will examine two cases: efforts by women workers in Mexico to make use of the Mexican labour reform and the USMCA chapter to address discrimination against women workers in Mexico, and the first case filed against the United States under the new provisions. This case was filed by Mexican migrant workers in the U.S. and a binational coalition of civil society organizations, around sex-based discrimination in hiring under the H-2A visa. The paper will examine the adequacy of the measures established in the USMCA and whether civil society organizations can effectively make use of these provisions to promote the rights of women and migrant workers in North America.
JEL Classifications
- F1 - Trade
- B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches