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Ritu Dewan
DirectorCentre for Development Research & Action
China-India Feminist Economics WorkshopGender dimensions of paid and unpaid work
in China and IndiaKunming, China 26-28 September 2014
dewan.ritu@gmail.com
Gender, Globalisation & Trade
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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
Structure
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.Income / returns2.Employment3.Competitively priced consumer goods4.Fewer assets to withstand liberalisation5.Increasing informalisation6.Weak bargaining power7.Work & wage differentials8.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
Mining & Quarrying 0.28 0.3
Manufacturing 11.75 11.34
Utilities 0.03 0.08
Construction 1.89 5.11
Trade & Hotels 4.14 4.55
Transport & Communications 0.4 0.43
Financing, Real Estate, Insurance 0.63 1.05
Community, Social, Personal Service
8.61 10.16
100.00 100.007
India’s Trade Pattern
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3: Sector Case: Agriculture…
Share of Agriculture: 1950-51 2012-13To GDP – 58 pc 13.7 pc To Empl – 88 pc 55 pc 1.GDP per capita of Agri Workers is one-fifth
of Non-Agri Workers2.Marginalisation, Alienation, Displacement3.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 non-farmers 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 export-oriented 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 rich-country 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. 15
…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.17
…5: Sector Case : Fishing & EPZs.
1. 90 percent are women ‘employees’; no-marriage 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, inter-governmental organisations, etc.
7. Strategies & strategic alliances: Multi-faceted & multi-level between gender equality advocates & key stakeholders
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…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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