Source:
Choike
10th AWID International Forum - Bangkok, October 2005
Alma Espino
Cartagena Feminist Initiative
The feminist perspective focuses on the economic analysis and on the formulation of policies of social and historical economic dimension as well as on the importance of political economy and economic policy; the gender relations (together with all other social relations) and the role played by institutions; it broadens the number of economic processes at stake when societies produce, distribute, exchange and consume.
Latin America’s international insertion, its characteristics, its potential contribution to development, the elimination of poverty and the reduction of inequalities represent a historical and controversial issue, which has acknowledged different positions, arguments and interpretations, both from the academy and the political and economic elites. And undoubtedly, from international financial institutions. In the 1990s, the prevailing economic policies were to a great extent imposed by multilateral financial institutions according to the Washington Consensus (1989): fiscal discipline, redirection of public expenditure, tax reform; financial liberalisation, competitive and unified exchange rates; privatisation of state companies; trade and financial opening and labour market flexibilisation.
Trade liberalisation policies and international market expansion gained new importance as growth factors. Simultaneously to unilateral openings, regional commitments started to be defined, thus implying the design and implementation of common strategies among trade partners, through processes of regional economic and commercial integration (such as, Mercosur).
For some time, optimism prevailed with regards to the results of these policies. Multilateral institutions preached their advantages and positive effects on growth. However, significant criticism soon arose. The prevailing relationship between trade and economic growth appeared not to be obvious but contingent depending on the country and its external characteristics.
Those Latin American countries that adopted the triad “stabilisation, liberalisation and privatisation” showed a poor performance in terms of growth and productivity with respect to other regions in the world, even worst than that showed for the period 1950-1980.
The 1990S opening-up experiment in Latin America and some of its results
Growth:
- In the first seven years of the 1990s, the regional economy showed relatively high rates on average, but by the end of the ten-year period, the situation was characterized by instability and slow down in growth in several countries. The effects of the Asian crisis made the vulnerability of the region evident upon sudden changes in the world economy.
- The persistence of economic stagnation or regression, led to state that in the period 1997-2002 the region had lost another half-decade (ECLAC 2004).
Openness and trade:
- The region is more open to trade than in the past, but this is more so for imports than for exports. Latin America’s relative share of world trade between 1985 and 1998 rose by 0.1%.
- It could be said that such failure is in part a result of not having achieved the necessary support for export development; however, it is worth pointing out that even if the increase in exports had been more satisfactory, and although exports represent an important contribution to development given the fact that they allow to take advantage of scale economies, they are not the only outstanding element. Among the countries with export success, for example, Korea, exports – although very significant for the economy – only account for a little more than 40% of GDP.
These trends in international trade behaviour were translanted into the well-known macroeconomic problems: structural deterioration in the interrelation between growth and trade balance. Trade and financial globalisation, the reduced state’s role in the economy and the “improved macroeconomic performance” did not result, as predicted, in high GDP growth rates. In the period 1990-2004, the average annual GDP growth rate was about half the rate corresponding to the period 1950-1980.
Development gaps
- The persistent divergence in terms of income per person between the region and the developed world – evidenced since the early 1970s and showing an increasing trend in recent years – accounts for the lack of inability of economies to accompany population growth. The income per person expressed in real terms, is still lower than that registered in the late 1990s .
Inequality and poverty
- Internal disparities become aggravated in terms of income distribution.
- In 1980, 120 million people (41% of the population) lived in poverty and by the end of 1999 this was the situation of nearly 220 million people (45% of the population) (ECLAC, 2001).
- o In 2004, according to ECLAC’s estimates (2005), 18,6% of the total Latin American population, that is to say, 96 million people, would be living in extreme poverty, while the number of poor people (including those 96 million) is estimated at 222 million people, 42.9% of the population in the region.
Vulnerability and weakness of the model:
- The above-mentioned results are also the product of internal and external financial crises underwent by other countries, with strong real effects, high economic and social costs and growth retraction (1994-1995, the “tequila” effect; the so-called “contagious” effects following the Asian crisis and Russian crisis in 1997).
- However, these policy combinations are not new; in the 1970s, a similar situation took place in Southern Cone countries between local conditions and the booming capital flows, while the macroeconomic dynamic showed the same cycle boom-downswing-crisis, although the length of experiences in the 1970s was shorter than in recent cases.
Therefore, it was not a matter of lack of historical evidence, analytic work or policy recommendations that would serve as antecedents to study the processes that were then being developed in Mexico and Argentina. The Southern Cone experiments had only taken place a decade ago and had been profusely reviewed.
So: Neither economic growth nor achievement of development goals.
In order to make trade expansion and trade policy trends serve the purposes of development, they should contribute, at least: to a sustainable economic growth over time, that is to say, they should allow to reduce external volatility and vulnerability, and become translated into increased per capita income (GDP per capita); growth with creation of productive jobs and reduction of informal, precarious and sub-employment rates; growth aimed at improving the capacity of incorporating knowledge and technology into the productive structure, both in terms of products and production processes; control of the impact of trade on the environment and the destruction of natural resources. Nevertheless, these trade-related economic goals should be compatible with others of a political nature. The design of trade strategies should take into account the encouragement of factors promoting the democratisation of societies, the defense of sovereignty and self-determination (Bittencourt, 2003).
Regional economic integration as an alternative view
The regional economic integration can be a strategic tool to overcome obstacles and create new opportunities for progress. The arguments in favour of integration processes are focused on a series of aspects of an economic, commercial and political nature: market expansion, regime and economic and social policy harmonisation, possibilities to strengthen international negotiation capacity. The new international market trends, highly efficient and competitive, characterized by high information and technology levels, in addition to the increased number of protectionist instruments of large blocs, leave Latin America faced with a challenge where integration mechanisms can become to a certain extent effective means to achieve internal and external balance and make solid and real arguments practible in upcoming negotiation processes.
Regional integration and insertion in the global market, are defined by political considerations regarding power relationships and interaction spaces, to which Latin America needs to resort to with clear initiatives and strategies for the purpose of their creation. Notwithstanding and also in this sense, strategies have oscillated without having clear objectives; half-way commitments between integration and unilaterality made it impossible in many cases to advance towards regional strategic goals while pre-existing social problems became aggravated (inequality, job precariousness and informality, unemployment).
¿What does feminism have to say about it?
Upon theoretical promises and lived experience, we feminists wonder: What role is being played by power relationships between countries, between men and women, between social classes and groups, in particular in Latin America? What could be the contribution of the gender perspective to trade policies and negotiations? In which way is it related to citizens’ democratisation and equity?
Providing an answer to these questions implies the challenge of carrying out an analysis of the impact of international trade on the society and economy of our countries from a gender perspective. This is no small challenge; it implies aiming at finding relationships in issues such as the well-being of women – which involves social relations both economic and political as well as cultural and ethical – with regards to something that seems so exogenous, global and market-related as the trade liberalisation phenomenon. Is it possible to analyse the links between trade, growth, poverty and development through gender spectacles in a convincing way?
The empirical and anecdotal evidence gathered until now gives sense to these questions. The responsibility of women in social reproduction accounts for a major role in development, while also their growing participation in market production and public spheres highlights their role as active agents in the field of trade and development.
The concept of gender incorporated into the feminist economic analysis has laid emphasis on aspects that are often excluded from traditional analysis: those activities related to the area of social reproduction as an integral and essential part of the operation of the economy, and social and power relationships as an important factor of policy success, not only in terms of general effectiveness but also of social and gender equity.
Economic phenomena and policy decisions affect the behaviour patterns of individuals, bring about social and material results, and have incidence on the distribution of costs and benefits. Such distribution is not produced within a relationship vacuum or in terms of players with the same initial chances, nor between countries or within each country. Therefore, economic phenomena and decisions impact differently on men and women and not acknowledging this implies going against an effective use of available resources and the achievement of social and economic justice. International trade and those policies defining it are usually regarded as a technical process, which is neutral from the point of view of class or gender.
Gender and trade policies
A central issue from the feminist point of view is whether trade reforms and emerging trade patterns either perpetuate, aggravate or erode gender inequalities. But also an important question has been placed with regards to the interaction between economy and gender relations. That is to say, whether such inequalities are playing a role in trade performance; whether there is a two-way causality between trade and gender inequalities.
The advances made in Latin America regarding the investigation on the impacts of NAFTA have shown that for instance in those sectors with high export dynamics, such as the clothing manufacturing sector, women were able to recover jobs that had been lost in previous years, although at the expense of lower salaries. A shift in terms of female jobs is also evidenced in the sector, since many job posts have started to be filled by men. This process is partly due to the dynamic imposed by the FTA on the textile and clothing industry, and also on other sectors of the economy thus preventing the creation of sufficient jobs. Informal employment grew substantially, and the number of women with informal jobs is higher than that of men. Female employment in the textile sector is channelled towards micro-enterprises (of less than five workers) with no contract terms covering insurance and other costs. Many of these new jobs represent an increase in employment rates, although many times in extremely precarious conditions.
The effect of the FTA on rural employment implied an increase in the number of working hours but did not improve the living conditions of agricultural male and female workers. There was an increase in the rate of female day-labourers engaged in export crops, with longer working days, given the fact that they work more time and also have to carry out household work. With regards to the “maquila” export industry, female employment grew in absolute terms, in particular that which is developed outside the border area, in smaller production units and with lower salaries. This dynamically growing sector shows a considerable shift from female to male labour force, which has led women to look for other types of jobs or accept worst working conditions and salaries in order to face male competition.
On the other hand, different results arising from the application of trade liberalisation policies in Southern Cone labour markets, are not in agreement with prospects for countries in the global South. In those countries, exports achieved less dynamism than imports and were mainly supported by natural resource intensive activities, with almost no added value. Both tendencies led to the destruction of productive sectors and companies, which resulted in a considerable loss of jobs. Although certain activities in services were expanded, the creation of jobs in those areas did not manage to compensate for the increase in female activity rates and the losses in non-competitive sectors. In terms of income, all of the above, led to higher social inequalities.
To sum up
The feminist perspective focuses on the economic analysis and on the formulation of policies of social and historical economic dimension as well as on the importance of political economy and economic policy; the gender relations (together with all other social relations) and the role played by institutions; it broadens the number of economic processes at stake when societies produce, distribute, exchange and consume, since it incorporates reproductive work into the analysis (both at households and in the community). This set of dimensions do have influence and could be decisive in the processes of value generation, distribution and accumulation; it is observed that the effectiveness of economic policies (including trade policies) not only depends on income growth rates but on those whom it benefits.
Therefore, it is necessary to wonder about the trade policies that are capable of contributing to a development with social and gender equity in the case of Latin America. To what extent a more equitable income distribution and the fight of poverty causes are in fact related to the reduction/elimination of gender inequalities. Is it possible to improve productivity and global competitiveness while maintaining the gender differences and social inequity that are limiting the access and opportunities to education and employment of the population as a whole? Is it possible to ignore the State and public policies as well as the social mechanisms that make a consensus possible among the different social actors? Is it possible to maintain an institutional system that does not acknowledge the efforts of women both in their reproductive and productive roles and to expect a satisfactory economic performance and improvements in general well-being? Is it possible for labour force reproduction to keep falling on women? How is it possible to ensure the effectiveness of policies without taking into account from the moment of their formulation the obstacles posed to the participation of the different social actors, particularly women, in the economic and political decision-making processes?
10th AWID Forum - Bangkok, October 2005
On October 27-30 will be held -supported by AWID- the 10th. International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development, that is both a conference and a call to action. |
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