Impactos de género del comercio interregional
| Autor | Carolina Pavese |
| Cargo | ESPM/SP |
| Páginas | 25-46 |
Latin American Journal of Trade Policy 11 (2021) – ISSN 079 -9668 – Universidad de Chile
25
Gender impact of Interregional trade: the case of EU-Mercosur
relations
Carolina Pavese*
Abstract
After two decades of negotiations, the European Union (EU) and Mercosur celebrated a new
Association Agreement in 2019. Structured around three pillars (political dialogue, cooperation, and
trade), the deal is still pending ratification but has raised strong criticism. Most concerns address the
effect of trade liberalization on social and environmental agendas. This article contributes to this
debate, conducting qualitative analysis on the agreement's potential impact on gender equality in the
EU and Mercosur. Departing from the feminist scholarship assumption that trade has an unavoidable
effect on gender , this article argues that int erregional trade agreements can be a helpful policy
instrument to promote gender equality. Nevertheless, this research demonstrates that, so far, the EU-
Mercosur Association Agreement has neglected this opportunity. The provisional text does not
reflect a gender mainstreaming approach, lacking the appropriate mechanisms to manage its effects
on women. A s a result, the new interregional trade liberalization instrument risks widening gender
inequality in both regions.
Keywords: Regional trade agreement, gender inequality, European Union, Mercosur.
Resumen
Después de dos décadas de negociaciones, la Unión Europea (UE) y Mercosur celebraron un nuevo
Acuerdo de Asociación. Abarcando tres pilares (diálogo político, cooperación y comercio), el acuerdo
aún está pendiente de ratificación, pero ha suscitado fuertes críticas. La mayoría de las preocupaciones
abordan el efecto de la liberalización del com ercio en las agendas sociales y ambientales.
Contribuyendo a este debate, este artículo realiza un anál isis cualitativo sobre el impacto potencial
del Acuerdo en la igualdad de género en la UE y el Mercosur. Desde un enfoque feminista que
argumenta que el comercio tiene un impacto inevitable sobre el género, este artículo señala que lo
acuerdos comerciales interregionales pueden ser potencialmente un instrumento de política para
promover la igualdad de género. Sin embargo, este artículo demuestra que el Acuerdo de Asociación
UE-Mercosur desaprovechó esta oportunidad. El texto provisional, que ahora está pasando por un
largo proceso de ratificación, no refleja un enfoque de transversalización de género. Como resultado,
es probable que la liberalización del comercio interregional ponga a las mujeres en una posición más
vulnerable. A menos que los mecanismos sean adecuados, el nuevo Acuerdo de Asociación UE-
Mercosur corre el riesgo de ampliar la desigualdad de género en ambas regiones.
Palabras claves: Acuerdo comercial regional, desigualdad de género, Unión Europea.
* ESPM/SP, Br azil. Email: carolpavese@gmail.com Received: October 16th 2021; modifications: December 06th 2021;
accepted: December 8th 2021.
Carolina Pavese
Gender impact of Interregional trade: the case of EU-Mercos ur relations
26
Introduction
In 2019, the EU and Mercosur celebrated an Association Agreement (AA) to foster trade
liberalization and promote commercial exchanges between the two markets, with unavoidable
impacts on trade policies and the structure of domestic economies. Considering that men and women
engage in economic activities differently, they experience uneven consequences from market opening.
Thus, even if trade liberalization does not create gender inequalities but may create conditions that
can either enhance women’s economic situation or exacerbate their pre-existing gender inequality and
bias ( Williams, 2019). Overall, the effects of trade liberalization on gender inequality derive from
uneven access to capital, properties, labor markets, earnings, human capital, and correlated public
policies, cultural biases, and gender norms. They also vary across markets and within different social
and economic groups. How women benefit from liberalization depends on the nature of trade
expansion and the type of trade policy changes, often sponsored by shifts in other policy domains.
Equally important, governments must adopt and implement instruments to seize the opportunity and
convert liberalization as an opportunity to close the gender gap, considering regional and local
differences in inequality (Fontana, 2009).
This research aims at assessing the underlying effects of the new EU-Mercosur trade agreement on
gender inequality in the two regions. Considering that the AA is still to come into force, the analysis
focuses on the draft text pending the ratification process. The main argument of this st udy is that a
gender mainstreaming approach allows the adoption of an interregional instrument that can
potentially contribute to reducing the gender economic gap. This research relies on the contribution
of feminist theories to the understanding of the gender dimension of trade and consults primary and
secondary sources to provide evidence for the empirical analysis.
This article is organized around four main sections. I t begins with a lit erature review on feminist
scholarship in the international political economy, discussing the correlation between trade and
gender. The next session identifies how the World Trade Organization (WTO) and r egional trade
agreements (RTAs) have addressed gender issues. Next, the article provides a general overview of
gender economic inequality within the EU and Mercosur. Lastly, the fourth part analyses the
agreement's text, revealing how i t failed to incorporate a gender mainstreaming approach. The
concluding remarks emphasize the empirical evidence that trade policy and gender inequality are
intertwined. By ignoring that, the EU and Mercosur have missed a critical opportunity to positively
address the gender dimension of interregional trade in the new agreement.
Feminist approaches to international trade
Mainstream International Political Economy (IPE) has traditionally focused on states, markets, and
derived relationships. Ontologically, it stems from the premises of rational-choice individualism.
Alternatively, critical IPE emphasizes that both state and market are the byproduct of society,
reflecting the tensions of capitalist relations while also shaping societal dynamics. Hence, whereas
liberalism perpetuates an artificial distinction between public and private spheres, critical political
economists also fail when they analytically separate “the economic” from the “society”. As a result,
both approaches disregard important structural social and power relations, like gender (Bedford &
Rai, 2010). That is where feminist IPE comes in. From their perspective, to ignore t he gender
dimension of the economy is a significant misconception. Economic policies are shaped in a system
of gendered power dynamics and imbued with hierarchies (Elson, 2007).
One of the main contributions of feminist scholarship is to highlight and analyze the structural
inequalities that operate in the global political eco nomy. Given that economic and trade activities
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