The Women's Edge Coalition released the study The Effects of Trade Liberalization on Jamaica's Poor: An Analysis of Agriculture and Services, on June 10, 2004 at the Embassy of Jamaica.

Working collaboratively with the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA), the Women’s Edge Coalition used their Trade Impact Review (TIR) to assess the impact of trade on Jamaica’s poor and forecast the potential effects of the Free Trade Area of the America (FTAA) on those living in poverty in Jamaica, particularly women.

In addition to demonstrating the utility of the TIR and urging governments to adopt it, the Women’s Edge Coalition and CAFRA believe that the TIR analysis illuminates clear policy recommendations for the governments of the U.S. and Jamaica as they continue negotiations for the FTAA.

The findings of the study will be released at a press conference on June 10th – we will post the case study to our site that day so keep an eye out for the groundbreaking findings.

Sample Findings of Case Study
Agriculture
In Jamaican agriculture, women are the majority of poultry producers. Women accounted for more than half of all poultry workers in the 1993 and 2001 (while they accounted for only between 20 and 24 percent of all agricultural workers). Women work as poultry farmers because there are few start-up costs and women traditionally have more difficulty gaining access to credit or loans to launch a farming venture. With contract or backyard poultry farming, the initial costs are low. Moreover, poultry farming is done in a shed or in one’s backyard so it is something that women can do at home and in combination with their child-care and other household responsibilities. Under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), Jamaica granted high levels of market access to imported agricultural products. Prior to the launch of the WTO, Jamaica had reduced its import duties from as high as 200 percent to 40 percent for agricultural goods. After import duties were lowered, poultry producers had to contend with an influx of cheaper, imported poultry meat from the U.S. Anecdotal evidence suggests that nearly half of the “backyard” farmers may have left the sector . Rural women, who are the majority of these “backyard” producers, would be most affected by the trade policies.

Some women interviewed for this study noted that years of working in Free Trade Zones left them with poor eyesight and breathing problems, rendering them virtually unemployable.

Free Trade Zones (FTZs)
Women were the vast majority of workers in the FTZs. In 1995, young women were 90 percent of the FTZ labor force. The average age of an FTZ worker was 25 and nearly two-thirds lived with their extended families or partners . At its peak in 1995, the FTZs employed more than 36,000 women. Once NAFTA, a free trade pact between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, came into force, U.S. companies relocated from Jamaica to Mexico to maximize profits. In 1996, Jamaica’s exports to the U.S. declined by 12 percent while Mexico’s grew by 40 percent in that same period . Between 1995 -1997, Jamaica lost 16,000 jobs in the FTZs. When women lost their jobs at the FTZs, many moved into the informal sector as “higglers” (market vendors), domestics, or providers of personal services (seamstresses, hair stylists, etc.) . However, some of these women noted that the market in their communities for these services was small. Unfortunately, many of the women who worked in the FTZs lacked the collateral necessary to start one of these small businesses and did not have the qualifications for the formal jobs available. Some women also noted that years of working in the FTZs left them with poor eyesight and breathing problems, rendering them virtually unemployable.

Macroeconomy
Macroeconomic policies seemed to reduce poverty for many Jamaicans throughout the late 1990s. The Government of Jamaica was able to keep inflation in the single digits and the cost of food dropped, in part as a result of cheaper-priced imports. In these instances, low-income Jamaicans benefited from trade liberalization – particularly women who are more likely to purchase food and other items for a household.

About the Trade Impact Review (TIR)
In 2002, the Women’s Edge Coalition developed the TIR, a rigorous yet accessible framework that would enable trade negotiators, governments, and others to forecast the potential benefits and drawbacks of a trade agreement before the agreement is ratified. The TIR framework assesses the direct and indirect economic effects of a change in trade or investment policy as well as the legal and regulatory changes or conflicts that a new trade policy may pose. Using this tool, policymakers can expand on the areas where the poor will benefit and modify trade language that would harm the poor, particularly poor women, the majority of the world’s poor.

To read the full report, go to: The Effects of Trade Liberalization on Jamaica's Poor: An Analysis of Agriculture and Services.






Reprinted with permission from Women's Edge Coalition.

To read another Global Envision article about the effects of globalization on poor women, see Globalization Gives Poor Women a Brighter Future.