Determinants of Including Gender-Related Provisions in Trade Agreements

• In Event: Gendered Public Policy and Attitudes

Abstract

Despite conventional wisdom that trade agreements are gender-neutral, a recent small but growing number of free trade agreements (FTA) and regional trade agreements (RTA) have included gender-related provisions. This is the first systematic study to examine determinants and dynamics of including gender issues in trade agreements. We argue that gender-related provisions are more observed in trade agreements that democratic, advanced industrial countries (i.e., Canada, the US, and European Union member states) initiated and negotiated with developing countries. Mutual interests between democratic, advanced industrial countries viewing trade agreements as an effective means to address gender issues in developing countries and developing countries seeking market access drive the decision to incorporate gender in trade agreements. Moreover, they are more likely to add gender components when negotiating trade agreements with natural resource-abundant countries that need market access to rich countries and do not necessarily see that gender-related provisions affect domestic society as the primary industry relies on male-dominated labor demand. We test our arguments by constructing an original dataset on trade agreements with gender-related provisions covering FTAs, RTAs, and preferential trade agreements between 1990 and 2019.

Authors

• Seungbin Park, University of Alabama

• Mi Jeong Shin, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics