Women constitute majority of those represented in food and agriculture production and processing globally. Thus, it is critical to incorporate gender into the debates around food and agriculture in order to identify alternative proposals to the current flawed international trade rules.
Last January 18-19, 2007, 30 women activists in farmers or workers’ movements around the world, as well as gender specialists working especially in the areas of agriculture, food and trade attended the “Women Leaders’ Forum on Food, Agriculture and Trade: Towards Alternative International Trade Rules for the Agri-food Sector†held in Nairobi, Kenya. Esther Penunia, represented both AsiaDHRRA and AFA to this event.
Organized by the International Gender and Trade Network and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the forum aimed to identify opportunities and ways to change international trade rules so that they respect gender equality and guarantee sustainable development for all.
The forum discussions focused on: a) gendered impact of trade liberalization on food systems, on agriculture markets and on women’s human rights; b) role of trade agreements in enhancing an industrialized model of agriculture and its impact on women’s livelihood working in this sector; c) sectoral experience on how international trade liberalization in food and agriculture affects women’s livelihoods – rice, chicken, milk, flowers; and, d) actors, policies and trade agreements that push trade liberalization in Africa.
During the forum, the impact of flawed international trade rules on women were presented.
In Mexico, the implementation of NAFTA in 1994 led to the drop in prices of corn, the main crop in that country, due to the entry of cheap US imports. Planting the corn fields, drying the cobs, shelling them, cooking and grinding the grains until you have uniform dough, beating it constantly, and frying the tortillas one by one are basically a woman’s tasks. Thus, it is the woman who was gravely affected by this NAFTA.
In the Philippines, the liberalization of rice trade has dampened the prices of domestically produced rice and lowered the income of small men and women rice farmers in the rice value chain. Filipino women play a very important role in the rice industry. They are directly involved in capital procurement, are engaged in almost all areas of rice production, are primary responsible for activities such as food preparation and bringing this to the rice fields during mealtimes. They are also highly involved in tasks such as the hiring of workers and the storing of seeds for future planting.
In the micro-finance sector, the effects of trade liberalization has also been felt by women.
Several alternatives were proposed.
Delegates asserted the rights of countries to determine their food and agricultural policies at the national level, as part of a participatory and democratic process, including the right to safeguard national development priorities.
Another is the inclusion of Special Products and Spcial Safeguard Mechanisms (SPs and SSMs) in WTO rules as they may enable developing countries to exempt certain food crops for further liberalization and to protect domestic agriculture with higher tariffs. They will enable countries to protect national agriculture programs and to curb dumping.
Another possible alternative worth looking into is the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). It includes the promotion of trade between countries, and even the elimination of tariff barriers on certain products, but its explicit core purpose is “to promote the social side of development, eliminating poverty and combating social exclusion in a cooperative effort by Latin American nations.
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