FEATURED: Cheikh Tidiane Dièye introduces a special issue on trade and women's rights, arguing that women, more than any other group, suffer the weight of the constraints of poverty largely brought about by the world trade system
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Roselynn Musa points out that the voices of women and poor people are largely missing from trade policy negotiations
- Salma Maoulidi asks what does trade mean for women in the East Africa region.
- Mohau Pheko argues that the July collapse of World Trade Organisation talks aimed at fostering a global free trade regime is actually an unexpected bonus
- Facts, figures, questions and answers on trade and women, compiled by Pambazuka News Staff
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem on the AU, the UN and the Sudanese government
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine interrogates the political situation in Zimbabwe, racism in South Africa, the Darfur Crisis
BOOKS AND ARTS: Reinventing Development
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Uganda
HUMAN RIGHTS: Great Lakes Summit kicks off
WOMEN AND GENDER: Fact sheet on reforming gender architecture in the UN
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Spain vows to curb migrant wave
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Will Congo explode?
DEVELOPMENT: Preface to global poverty or global justice
CORRUPTION: Firms admit paying bribes in world bank program
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: ARVS becoming big business
EDUCATION: Zim University to teach Chinese language and culture
RACISM & XENOPHOBIA: Complaint of racial division in the newsroom
ENVIRONMENT: Bringing the earth back to life
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Vice president’s daughter grabs farm
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Beyond propaganda
DIASPORA: Haiti, shocking Lancet study
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: NEPAD’s IT project faces failure
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs.

What is the role of women in world trade?

Compared to 50 years ago, women represent an increasingly higher number of the world’s labour force, with many studies placing the number at over 50 percent. However, this doesn’t include women who work in the informal sector or the unpaid activities of women at the household level. On a broader level, women’s access to health care and education, for example, are profoundly influenced by national economic policy – meaning that if international economic best practice doesn’t take into account gender issues, then women are disadvantaged.

How does trade have an impact on women’s rights?

Trade liberalisation, which refers to the untaxed flow of goods and services between countries, has had positive and negative influences. Increasingly, the negative impacts of trade liberalisation, has made trade a central feature of advocacy work by gender activists. Women have gained jobs in the manufacturing sectors, but these jobs may not lead to positive social outcomes as women often work longer hours and are paid low wages. The opening of markets and the influx of cheaper goods have in some cases destroyed livelihoods, and it is women who have borne the brunt of these changes.

Have women’s rights been considered in international trade bodies?

The World Trade Organisation, an international rules-based and member driven organization which oversees a large number of agreements defining the "rules of trade" between its member states, has long been criticized for not including the voices of women, preferring to view trade as gender neutral. Moreover, its main decision making bodies are male-dominated. To this extent, nothing has been done to take into account or lessen the negative impact of trade liberalization on women’s rights. Despite increasingly loud voices, the WTO refuses to reform itself, has unclear rules about its decision making and operates in manner that is non-transparent.

What is the core of the problem? – Trade or the global economic system in which we conduct trade.

There is nothing wrong with trade per se; in fact the cornerstone of human society is based on trade. To human beings, trade is a tool for survival. However, a problem arises when one group of people uses trade to exploit and oppress another group of people. From a feminist standpoint, this normally happens in a patriarchal society. A patriarchal society is a society based on the belief that women are inferior to men. The global economic system is shaped and influenced by patriarchal logic. Indirectly and directly, the global economic system cultivates and encourages misogynists attitudes in traders, which nine out of ten times tend to be men.

What is the Alternative? Or, as patriarchal society puts the question: What do women want?

Women want to be treated with dignity and respect. Lots of feminists have said this before, but women want an end to sex discrimination by job definition and sex-role stereotyping in the media. Like any “normally” functioning group of people on the planet, women want equity and self-management . Women want a good economy that accomplishes central economic functions without exploitation of women, people of colour and the environment; but most importantly, women want an economy that meet people’s needs and develop their potential, to paraphrase Michael Albert.

What’s the solution to these problems?

Most governments are already signatories to a host of international agreements committing them to gender equality. These include the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action, which requires that governments correct imbalances that any policy, including economic policy, might create.

Economic policies are often fostered on countries by International Financial Institutions and donors. Officially, consultation in the implementation of these policies does take place, but in reality economic policy should be formulated through a democratic process that takes into account the voices of local people and considers the existing power relations within society.

Fact and Figures: Women’s rights and trade

- "Thirteen countries - of which Burundi, Liberia, Nigeria, Somalia and Tanzania are a few - are in the same shape or worse off today than they were in 1990. For almost 40 countries the data is insufficient to say anything, which probably reflects an even worse situation for women." - Social Watch, an NGO watchdog system (Source:

- ."...there is growing evidence that trade liberalization tends to disadvantage women, who constitute the majority of small-scale farmers in rural areas. According to the FAO, women make up about 44% of the formally documented agricultural work force in developing countries..." (Source:

Trade and human rights

Economic Partnership Agreements: Territorial conquest by economic means

Trade liberalisation, hunger and starvation

We are fatigued with charity, we know we can do it ourselves

FEATURED: The first-ever convention on the rights of persons with disabilities has been passed. Lina Lindblom explains what it means
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Eva Dadrian writes on the aftermath of the Lebanese conflict - and its implications for Africa
- Nnimmo Bassey argues for clean and renewable energy
LETTERS: A tribute to Bi Kidude
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem puffs about why he quit smoking and hasn't sold out!
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine interrogates the “keep the child alive” campaign. Ekine also questions Jeffrey Sachs’s developmental theories
BOOKS AND ARTS: Book review on the complexities of media regulations
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Uganda
HUMAN RIGHTS: Statement from Sanctions Against Israel on Capitalism
WOMEN AND GENDER: Monuc troops among the most sex offenders
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Somalia’s refugees lose hope.
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Nigerian elections set for April
DEVELOPMENT: A primer on foreign aid
CORRUPTION: Corruption in humanitarian aid
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: AIDS message to change in South Africa
EDUCATION: Girls’ education under microscope
RACISM & XENOPHOBIA: Racial profiling led to detention, harassment at airport
ENVIRONMENT: Satellite chronicles depleted continent
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Surviving the land invasions
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Threatened from everywhere
DIASPORA: First Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Ministers to sign broadband agreement
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs.

As quoted in January, Zimbabwe's security minister Didymus Mutasa warned that "the net will soon close" on critical journalists who threatened nation’s security. The statement came together with a new offensive against the remaining independent journalists in the country and just after the arrest of employees and directors of Voice of the People (VOP), a radio station that transmitted into Zimbabwe via a shortwave transmitter in Madagascar. The significance of the crackdown lies in the fact that VOP is one of the few alternatives to the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

This Friday in Harare, six trustees of Voice of the People (VOP), a privately-owned radio station, are due to appear in court on criminal charges, according to a Human Rights Watch press release (http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/02/08/zimbab12632.htm). On January 24, the authorities brought charges of broadcasting without a license against six of the station’s trustees. VOP was one of the few alternatives to the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the only broadcaster with a license to operate legally in the country.

“The Zimbabwean government is using criminal charges to muzzle independent reporting and criticism,” said Paul Simo, Africa advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “This crackdown targets media that criticize government institutions, officials and the ruling party.”

The VOP trustees could face up to two years in jail. The charges came after police raided the Harare home of one of the board members, Arthur Tsunga, and kidnapped two of his household staff. The two were detained without charge for four days in an effort to coerce the executive director of VOP, John Masuku to turn himself into the police. Masuku was charged with broadcasting without a license on December 23.

The board members? David Masunda, Isabella Matambanadzo, Millicent Phiri, Lawrence Chibwe, Nhlahla Ngwenya and Tsunga?are will be represented by Beatrice Mtetwa, a renowned Zimbabwean human rights lawyer.

VOP was not the only target, however. Independent journalist Sydney Saize was arrested for filing a Voice of America report saying that the ruling ZANU-PF party had beaten teachers in the city. Meanwhile, the Media and Information Commission (MIC) threatened in early January to cancel the license of the Financial Gazette, a privately-owned newspaper, and refused to renew the accreditation of fifteen journalists working for the Zimbabwe Independent, another privately-owned newspaper.

Three laws have tightened the screws on Zimbabwe’s media over the last five years. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act of 2002 forces media ventures to register with a Media and Information Commission or face prison. It also makes it an offence for journalists to work without accreditation.

The Broadcasting Services Act of 2001 ensures that the government has control of the airwaves by giving the Minister of State for Information and Publicity the power to decide who can broadcast. Lastly, the Public Order and Security Act of 2002 has a number of aspects which potentially limit the right to freedom of expression and covers the publishing of false statements against the state, the organizing of public gatherings and grants extensive powers to the police.

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Women have suffered the most as a result of the diversion of funds from social services in order to service debt repayments. In solving the debt crisis and making sure that it never happens again, the political and economic participation of women is crucial. That’s why the Protocol on the Rights of Women must be ratified, says this Pambazuka News article.

In 2005 the issue of debt cancellation has received an enormous amount of attention, with world leaders under pressure to deliver on what has been described as one of the biggest stumbling blocks to Africa’s development.

The argument for debt cancellation is that undemocratic governments contracted the debt and these debts are therefore illegitimate. Repayments prevent governments from channeling money into much needed social services such as health and education. This violates the rights of people to adequate health care, for example.

Continued debt repayments also make a mockery of efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which require substantial financial commitments. As long as governments have to continue paying large amounts to service their debt, the MDGs will remain a pipe dream. Many countries are so mired in debt that they can never realistically hope to fully repay their debts and live a debt free existence. Rich countries have also only been willing to write off debt subject to the adoption of certain conditions by debtor countries, such as Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), which have in turn had a devastating impact on the social fabric of the countries where they have been implemented.

This is why countless statements have been issued over the years calling for unconditional cancellation of third world debt. For example, the Dakar Declaration for the total unconditional cancellation of African and Third World debt adopted in Dakar, Senegal on December 14, 2000 stated that debt and structural adjustment plans (SAPs) constitute the principal causes for the degradation of health, education, nutrition, food security, the environment and socio-cultural values of African populations. Debt and SAPs, said the statement, are the cause of the aggravation of unemployment, the destruction of families, the worsening of women's socio-economic conditions, the ecological degradation of the continent and wars.

It has been clear for many years that the onerous burden of debt has an enormous impact on nearly every aspect of life and none more so than on the lives of women. As Barbara Kalima from the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) in Harare, Zimbabwe has previously pointed out, in Sub-Saharan Africa, women's roles have been increasing in scope because of the impact of economic reforms, wars and crises. Women are not only crucial to the economy, but also play a key role in delivering social services. But Kalima goes on to note that women often live in difficult social and economic conditions. This is amplified by a reliance on the formulations of the Bretton Woods Institutions: “The essence of adjustment conditionality denies women the right to participate in economic policy formulation and to identify the economic models that suit them. The international financial institutions are actively contributing in mortgaging women's well-being.” Kalima states that women's economic rights must be fostered through engendered human development which means that gender biases are corrected through the process of developing people's capacity to enjoy a decent life and be educated.

The often poor economic condition of women is of direct benefit to the market. Yassine Fall notes that women’s inequality has benefited the capitalist system. “Women not only represent a cheap labour force, but they also contribute to the survival of the economic system though their unpaid labour,” she writes. Fall argues that the link between gender and debt can be explained in the impact of the macroeconomic policies such as SAPs on women. “The very things that can help raise their status - education, health care and employment - are being decimated as governments struggle to meet crippling debt repayments to the creditors.”

While the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit provided the international community with a clear set of development goals, Fall says meaningful development requires the removal of major sources of "unfreedom" - including institutional arrangements that deny people, especially women. “Alleviating poverty, ensuring food security, reducing population growth, improving the quality of a country's future labour force, and properly using the natural resource base all depend substantially on women, and thus major gender policy analysis should not ignore this fact. Without gender analysis, there is little chance that any efforts to reduce and manage external debt will bring about substantial poverty alleviation for both women and men.”

Fall makes some recommendations to redress the gender and debt disparity. Governments should generate economic policies that have a positive impact on employment and income of women workers; governments should seek to mobilize new and additional financial resources in the form of grants and not loans; and explore more effective ways of integrating gender into debt management negotiations and monitoring processes.

How to avoid future manifestations of the debt trap? Gerald Mwale, in an article for One World Africa, argues governments must develop clear guidelines as to how loans will benefit men, women, and children. The location of control also needs to shift from the centre to citizens, who need to become the mechanism of control. “Governments should only obtain loans that are sanctioned by the people through their representatives (parliamentarians) and allow civil society to monitor them,” he writes. Moreover, Mwale continues, debt negotiations ought to consider the link between debt and budgeting for social services. “Last but not least, complicity of borrowers and debtors plus the historical cause of debt must be included in debt analysis,” he concludes.

If women have experienced the worst of the debt crisis in Africa, then their perspective is crucial not only in resolving the situation but also in participating in the process that results in redress and makes sure that history does not repeat itself. The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which clearly deals with women’s political and economic participation, is an important mechanism in making sure that this happens.

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REFERENCES:

1. Barbara Kalima: Gender, debt and development abstract paper; African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), June 2002. (http://www.afrodad.org/archive/gender_debt.htm)

2. Yassine Fall: Promoting sustainable human development rights for women in Africa., February 1998. (http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/africa-cn.htm)

3. Gerald Mwale : African women carry the debt burden, One World Africa. May 2005. (http://www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=…

4. World Development Report 2001: The vicious cycle: Aids and third world debt.