Women, Trade and Sustainable Livelihoods in Southeast Asia (14 to 16 November 1996) |
Conference message on women, trade and sustainable livelihoods
Preamble
The conference on "Women, Trade and Sustainable Livelihoods in Southeast Asia" was held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 14-16, 1996. This conference was organised by UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women). It was the Southeast Asian component of UNIFEM’s ongoing series of conferences on women and trade, held in different regions. This initiative was sponsored by SEAGEP (South-east Asian Gender Equity Program) of CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency), IDRC (International Development Research Centre), and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).
This Conference in Bangkok brought together key policy makers, trade negotiators, researchers and non-governmental participants from eight Southeast Asian countries - Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. In addition, there were participants from China, India, Sri Lanka, and the Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga. The objective of this Conference was to analyse the gender-specific effects of trade liberalisation on women in the region, with the aim of maximising opportunities for women. The participants of this Conference worked together on the following Conference Message as an articulation of some issues relevant to gender and trade.
Conference message
A. Gender considerations should be noted in trade agreements within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other trade fora. Trade can be an important catalyst for development. We are for trade not as an end in itself, but in so far as it is important for the advancement of men and women in developing countries. We recommend the following:
A1 Gender should not become isolated as a separate trade issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other trade fora leading to controls on market access, national treatment or cross-conditionality. This will be counterproductive to the basic concerns of furthering the cause of women in developing countries. Rather, gender concerns should inform the approach to all areas and sectors of every international trade forum, in particular the WTO.
A2 Governments should consider setting up a rapid response system to enable them to track changes happening at the local level that are impacting on women in the absence of safety nets. Feedback from all sectors of society should be responded to immediately.
A3 Governments and Corporations should invest in women’s potential as economic contributors - for example, targeting women’s interests in technical skills training and transfer of improved technology so that they can benefit from trade liberalisation, in keeping with their contributions.
B. The following issues have specific gender concerns and are still in a fluid state of negotiation within the WTO and other trade fora. We have noted the following:
Issue 1: Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC)
B1.1 We feel that there should be increased market access for developing economies, since protectionism in this sector by industrialised countries has increased since the formation of the WTO. This is an important area of concern for women who constitute the bulk of the export-oriented workforce in this sector in Asia.
B1.2 Loopholes that allow for increased protectionism within this transitional period should be blocked.
B1.3 Commodities should not be redefined such that these are moved to higher tariff bindings and items traditionally excluded should not be brought into the ATC.
B2.1 We would like to ensure that new opportunities for the employment of women are strongly encouraged in keeping with the high human resource potential of women and men.
B2.2 Gender concerns require that the existing GATS (General Agreement on Trade and Services) structure should not be altered. Developing countries require flexibility in the timing and extent of the liberalisation of services.
Issue 3: Agreement on Agriculture
B3.1 Food security must not be held hostage to trade. Issues of food security have to be explicitly incorporated into the phasing and implementation of the agreement. This is particularly important for women, who are in the main responsible for the food security of households and are affected by it.
B4.1 We strongly oppose bringing in any Multilateral Investment Agreement into the WTO framework. This is because:
B4.2 Investments must contribute to the long-term sustainable use of the natural resource base.
Issue 5: Intellectual property rights (IPR)
B5.1 Intellectual Property Rights should not be used as a limiting or projec-tionist device in trade, as in the case of the legal appropriation, through patent processes in industrial countries, of traditional knowledge or bio-diversity resources of developing countries, affecting trade in such commodities. Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) should not preclude the use of indigenous resources to sustain community livelihoods and to maintain health and wellbeing.
Issue 6: Multilateral trade-related organisations
B6.1 We feel that multilateral trade-related agencies should take greater responsibility in disseminating information on the advantages, processes, opportunities, and services that are available to them to assist developing countries.