Day I

I. Opening

Sarojini Ganju Thakur of the Commonwealth Secretariat opened the workshop. She gave an overview of its objectives and encouraged participants to continue to work together in their various countries to help to mainstream gender in the areas of trade, and ICT. Mrs. Faith Webster, Acting Executive Director of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs, Jamaica, gave welcome and opening remarks.

Participants shared their hopes and expectations for the seminar, which included:

• Not being able to contribute significantly due to limited knowledge of trade policy
• Need to move away from women-centred needs to gender policy
• Need to involve students at all levels in gender and trade policies
• Need to have buy in from various stakeholders

Learning outcomes

• Start working with colleagues
• Recognise shared concerns
• Plan own work and learning over the week

II. Gender, Trade and Development I

In this first session Mariama Williams gave the background to analytical and institutional frameworks for the role of trade in the development process. The following issues were discussed:

• What is growth? links between growth, development and trade, including the gender implications
• How does poverty relate to all these? and how do these issues impact on the lives of men, women and children?
• Role of trade in the global economy, shaping trade policies

Activity

At this point participants were asked to give their definitions of gender. Mariama Williams summed up that feminist economists see gender as a relation of power, as a social stratifier that influences the distribution of output, work, income and wealth.

Learning outcome

Draft own definition of gender and compare with others

Mariama Williams then explored the legitimacy for integrating gender into trade agreement policies, considering: rules and commitments based on legitimacy; and analytical and empirical legitimacy. She introduced gender analysis as a tool to provide:

• Perspectives on the gender division of men and women
• Perspectives on race, class, ethnicity and how these shape and influence men’s and women’s entitlements, capabilities and ability to exercise and influence power in the economy.

Key question:

What are the potential and actual impacts for men and women and the macro, micro and meso levels of the economy as a result of directional shift in trade policy?

Summing up on gender and trade liberalization, she made the points:

• Outcome is complex in terms of impact on men and women and often contradictory
• Look at gender differential impact as well as employment effects.
• Identity gender-based constraints, also gendered patterns in formal and informal sector employment
• The critical questions to ask in relation to a particular country or region are:
• What are the gender-based constraints and considerations?
• What are the shifts in trade policy?
• What are the realities re
• Unpaid labour and social reproduction
• Access to education, information, technology, land, credit and equipment
• Patterns in the formal/non-formal sector
• Need to: assess impacts
• Develop models and indicators before signing agreements
• Identify gender factors

Learning outcome

Get an overview of the subject to return to, apply and process during the week

III. Gender, Trade and Development II

In this session, facilitated by Dorienne Rowan Campbell, participants were first asked to explore the concept of gender, summarising perceptions of a man or woman in their community. Various definitions were raised and discussed as follows:

• Women – nurturers, caregivers, mothers; domestic/reproductive roles; accessing higher education; jobs – productive roles
• Men – providers, breadwinners, leaders – public sphere, more involved in crime and violence; underperformance of boys in schools

Gender was examined in terms of roles, behaviours, responsibilities, rewards, rights, power and relationships (differences, similarities, gaps)

• ‘When thinking about gender, we are really thinking about thinking
• ‘Gender analysis at its simplest is seeing what our eyes have not been trained to see’ World Bank 2000

This led to discussion of policy and analytical tools for trade policy and export. Two main frameworks were presented.

Harvard Framework

1. Who does what? by age or sex
2. Who has what? in terms of land, access, resources
3. Who has control? over time/assets
4. Who benefits?

Empowerment Framework (developed by Sarah Longwe from Zambia)

Felt that most development polices are at the level of welfare need to have access Concientization (awareness of situation, what you lack and you need). Once you have this you can participate. This leads to control which leads to equality and empowerment (the power within). Once it is finished, this process starts all over again. Welfare then become well-being. Trade would start at conscientization.

Learning outcomes

IV. Trade Policy Environment

Mariama Williams presented the final session of the afternoon. She outlined the role of trade in the global economy and the role of trade in the development process, highlighting tensions between the role of trade and development:

• Cost of trade
• Lack of production capacity in the domestic economy
• Social costs
• Tensions over scope and speed of liberalization and one-sided nature of trade agreements

She defined key concepts (Trade Agreements, Trade Policy, Multilateral Trading Systems and Globalisation), gave a short history of trade policy from GATT to WTO and outlined the characteristics of trade agreements at regional multilateral levels. In summing up the new trade policy regime she stressed that trade policy tends to:

• Dominate all other objectives
• Is fixed and not responsive to national environment
• Has implications for monetary, fiscal and social policy
• Has change in constitutional and regulatory processes

She identified ways forward and challenges for gender sensitive trade policy

• Research and analysis on gender and trade
• Highlights gender and technology transfer in TRIPS
• Construction of ex ante and post trade agreements indicators and monitoring tools (construction of gender sensitive indicators)
• Need to engage trade policy makers
• Address policy evaporation

Learning outcomes

• Get overview of trade policy environment
• Outline development and scope of WTO and trading agreements
• Map out implications of WTO for gender

(Report for Day 1 based on summary by Faith Williams of the Jamaica team)

Day I | Day II | Day III | Day IV | Day V