Updated Fact Sheet: Gender Impacts of CAFTA

The fact sheet looks at the potential gender impacts of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on women in Central America. It focuses on four sectors: agriculture, services, intellectual property, and investment.
Looking at the effects of this trade agreement from an agricultural context, the fact sheet concludes that heavily subsidized U.S agricultural products will flood the regions markets, hurting those who are dependant on agricultural products for survival. Evidence suggests that those most dependant on agricultural products tend to be the poor and more specifically the poor within female-headed households. This could lead to women migrating and seeking employment in exported orientated industries, which are renowned for their exploitation of women.
From an investment perspective, the trade agreement prevents local governments from enforcing performance requirements on foreign investors, this fact sheet highlights the negative consequences of such an agreement on women who are often forced to work for less then minimum wage and under appalling conditions in foreign companies.
In terms of services, privatisation and foreign competition could threaten the job security of service related industries, which tend to be made up of women workers.
The inclusion of intellectual property rights in CAFTA could harm women in two ways: Firstly, there would be a decline in the availability of cheap drugs and medicines and secondly, farmers would be prohibited of using their traditional farming methods.
The fact sheet concludes that a gender impact of CAFTA should be undertaken prior to the signing of the agreement so as to avoid the negative consequences of trade on women. Furthermore the fact sheet argues that countries should be allowed to maintain the freedom and flexibility of establishing their own economic growth paths.