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Championing a Feminist Trade Policy

15 July 2021

Regional trade expert, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, has put forward a case for a feminist trade policy for small states.  

Addressing the Eminent Speaker Series of the UWI Cave Hill, Faculty of Law recently, Coke-Hamilton who is the Executive Director of the Switzerland-based development agency, the International Trade Centre (ITC), said small states should embrace a feminist trade policy in the same way they should embrace a strong foreign policy or a humane social policy.

“Economies of exports of small states are dominated by services. Those service sectors, especially travel and tourism, primarily employ women and in many cases, single female heads of households. It therefore makes sense that our trade policies – that is tariffs, licensing agreements, procurement rules – be directly focused on supporting those women,” she told attendees at the May 26 virtual event. Coke-Hamilton, an advocate for the development of women in trade, noted that a feminist-focused trade policy can also serve to address the labour challenges faced by small island developing states.

“We all know about labour shortages in small states that prevent exports from reaching economies of scale. The high costs and skills gap that mean so many of our potential export are uncompetitive before they leave our farms, factories and workshops. Therefore, why would your labour markets in those sectors and workshops … discriminate against women? Why would vocational training in those industries not be focused on gaining as many well-trained and job-ready workers as possible?” she asked. The former Executive Director of Caribbean Export acknowledged that while many small states lack large resource endowments, there were investment opportunities.

“Limited natural resources and isolation, like labour shortages, means that so many promising exports from small states cannot compete on the supermarket shelves alongside goods from much larger and richer countries.

“We can’t do much about those endowments or where we lie on the map but we can create new opportunities through more investment, more innovation and more entrepreneurship.”
She argued that supporting small and medium-sized enterprises was another essential pillar in supporting a feminist trade policy.
“Women own close to ten million of the world’s SMEs and these businesses account for almost 80 per cent of jobs around the world. Therefore, any move to increase SME competitiveness boosts the likelihood of creating jobs, and eventually sustainable economic growth. It is thus clear that the achievement of development goals is attainable only through the active participation of women,” Coke-Hamilton stated.
She also advised that other critical areas must also be addressed in order to ensure women’s successful participation, including childcare, health care, education, safety and security, otherwise there would be no positive moves on the needle of women’s economic empowerment.
Of particular concern to her was the economic upheaval wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its financial, physical and psychological impact on women.
“In certain sectors like tourism and other services, women lose their jobs at a rate seven times higher than men. Research confirms what most working mothers already know: at home, women face an exponential increase in unpaid care, domestic work and home-schooling responsibilities.

“UN statistics show that women perform three times the amount of work at home, compared to pre-pandemic levels. In the US alone, over two million women may be leaving the formal workplace because they are simply incapable of absorbing the physiological and psychological impact of this new reality,” she said, adding that those who remain in work still face huge challenges.
“Women comprise seven out of every ten health and social care workers at the frontline of battling the COVID pandemic.

Secretary General designate of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Carla Barnett, who attended the virtual lecture, indicated her support for a feminist trade policy.
“Gender equality in any policy is a good policy. This results in more equal opportunities … for everybody, hence making society more stable,” Dr Barnett stated.
The lecture was chaired by Nicole Foster, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law, and was the fifth in the Faculty’s Eminent Speaker Series.
 

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