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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.

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…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………