1 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 September 2014 Gender, Globalisation & Trade

2 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 3

…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. 4

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 5

…2: Gender & Trade Interlinkages Complex; ambiguous; contradictory – 1.Income / returns 2.Employment 3.Competitively priced consumer goods 4.Fewer assets to withstand liberalisation 5.Increasing informalisation 6.Weak bargaining power 7.Work & wage differentials 8.Export-led growth at expense of women. 6

Women Workers: Sectoral Pattern: India Sector Primary Mining & Quarrying Manufacturing Utilities Construction Trade & Hotels Transport & Communications Financing, Real Estate, Insurance Community, Social, Personal Service

India’s Trade Pattern 8

3: Sector Case: Agriculture… Share of Agriculture: To 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 Workers 2.Marginalisation, Alienation, Displacement 3.Declining State investment 9

…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 10

…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 11

…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. 12

...3: Sector Case: Agriculture. A peasant suicide every 30 minutes 45 peasant suicides per day suicides per year 3,50,000 since 1997 Levels of Indebtedness & ‘Growth’ Maharashtra – 20 % 13

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. 14

…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. 16

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 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 hour week; overtime; toilet coupons; unpaid weekly ‘off’; no leave whatsoever. 6.Majority migrants; conditions of stay; mobility. 18

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 19

...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 20

…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 21

...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). 22

23 ……thank you………