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By Deborah Stienstra for FAFIA 

January 1999

Across the world, women contribute to their economies through their work especially in services, agriculture and industry. Yet the majority of women continue to earn on average only 50%-80% of what men earn. As well, much of women’s work is unpaid and ignored in our calculations of economic strength or growth.

As the 1995 Human Development Report notes “In virtually every country of the world, women work longer hours than men, yet share less in the economic rewards.” A popular statistic in the 1980s notes: While women contribute 66% of the hours worked each day, they earn only 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property.” Indeed, today we know that the majority of the world’s poor are women.

Women’s lives are shaped by the economy. Their ability to earn money influences their economic independence, freedom from violence, access to education and good health. When women have economic autonomy they are more likely to make decisions about their own lives and the directions they want to take for themselves and their families with greater freedom.

We are told by the media, by economists, by our politicians that the economy is driven by the “invisible hand” of the market, by forces out of our control, by transnational businesses and by globalisation. This encourages us to leave decisions about the economy to the “experts”, to those who understand the economy and to those who supposedly make a difference in economic terms. The reality that women around the world still strive for pay equity in workplaces and control only a small portion of the world’s economy already indicates that the world’s economy is not gender-neutral.

This paper will map where commitments have been made by the Canadian governments on gender and the economy and who is responsible for policies related to them. This will identify some of the ways in which women in Canada can become aware of who makes decisions about the global economy, hold them accountable for these decisions and ensure that women’s situations and perspectives are part of all decision-making about the economy.

Who Makes Economic Decisions and How Can We Shape Them?

The economy is that part of our society that has to do with wealth - who has it, how to get more, who needs it, why and what do we do with it? Most of our society is involved in the economy in one way or another. Workers provide their skills, time and energy to produce things or provide services.

Businesses use workers, provide money or capital for building companies and industries, and ensure that their shareholders receive profit on their investments. Consumers use their wealth to buy things or services. In our current economic system, governments are supposed to do as little as possible in relation to the economy. They provide some regulation for businesses especially in terms of working conditions and preventing domination of essential services by one company, and they provide an overall framework for responding to the actions of businesses.

Most economic decisions are made by businesses and governments. Each is accountable to a different group within society. Businesses are accountable to their shareholders - those who own stocks or shares in the companies. Those with the greatest number of shares have the largest voice in company decision-making. Their ‘bottom line’ is to get the largest amount of profit for their shareholders. In most companies, anyone who can afford to buy shares can be a shareholder. However, for most women, owning shares in a company is not financially possible. Thus they cannot be involved in decision-making within the context of businesses.

Governments also are involved in economic decision-making. Governments are accountable to the people of Canada and women can hold their government responsible for keeping their commitments. Women need to know what commitments have been made, who, within government is responsible for implementing them, and what actions have been taken.

As part of gaining more or better control and knowledge of our economic environment, it is important for women to understand the roles that our government plays in the economy.

In Canada, the federal government is responsible for setting overall economic policy, but many federal institutions are involved in different aspects of economic policy-making.

1: Policy definition

Public policy, in a general sense, is the body of laws, regulations, guidelines, and other practices of governments, courts, and various public agencies. More specifically, public policy is a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a given problem. Women’s public policy is the result of applying a gender-based analysis to public policy. (Source: www.unb.ca/PAR-L/policy0.htm [1] )

Taxation — The federal department of National Revenue collects taxes from Canadians and Canadian companies.

Budgets — A country’s budget is a financial reflection of the priorities and value system of the government and, to some extent, the society of the day. Using taxes along with other sources of revenue, the federal Minister of Finance gives an annual budget where he or she outlines where the government will spend or cut money and where its priorities are. Many use the budget as a measurement of the overall direction the government will take and evaluate the economic performance of the government on the basis of the budget. Others, including the Canadian Centre on Policy Alternatives, have created alternative budgets which show how the priorities of governments could be changed.

Monetary policy — The Bank of Canada, Canada’s central bank, sets out policies in relation to the Canadian dollar, its supply within Canada, its value in relation to the other currencies of other countries and short-term interest rates.

Trade policy — Canada’s selling of its goods to other countries and buying goods from other countries is the trade policy. This is regulated by the Minister for International Trade and is affected by many trade agreements with countries.

Regulating financial institutions — The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions regulates all financial institutions within Canada, such as banks and trust companies, and all employer-employee pension plans under federal jurisdiction.

Labour and employment standards — The federal Minister of Labour and the department of Human Resources Development Canada (www.infoexport.gc.ca [2]

As well, the National Secretariat’s of the Commission are responsible for panel reviews when a dispute under NAFTA needs to be resolved.

How can women’s groups be involved? Women’s groups can monitor the effects of NAFTA in their own communities and make the results known to the Minister of International Trade. This is one of the reasons access to information and resources are essential for women’s civil society participation on these important issues. Some excellent groups already undertake regular monitoring of NAFTA. See, for example, Public Citizen’s
Global Trade Watch web page on NAFTA: www.citizen.org/pctrade/nafta/naftapg.html [3]
See also www.tradewatch.org [4]

World Trade Organization
What is it?
The World Trade Organization is the largest and potentially most important global economic decision-making organization in the world. It currently has 133 members, including Canada. It began in 1995, taking over from the General Agreement on Tarriffs and Trade (GATT). GATT had been the major international trade treaty since World War II, and provided an ad-hoc opportunity for countries to get together to agree to remove trade barriers. The WTO is a more formal organization and has more power than GATT, but it takes on much of what GATT used to do. Its primary purposes are to regulate and monitor the international trading system so that there will be fewer barriers to free trade in the future. It regularly reviews every member country’s trade policies in light of the treaties and tells them where they could do better. It provides for dispute resolution panels when there are disagreements. And it helps to develop and negotiate new trade agreements.

Pro and Con:
Supporters argue that the WTO finally provides a framework for global trade policies and with it the possibility for much increased free trade across the world. Even countries of the South see some hope in this organization because it offers every country an equal vote and works on the basis of consensus.

Opponents argue that the WTO will take away more power from individual nations, forcing them to work on the basis of globally written trade rules, rather than responding to their own individual country’s needs. As well, critics suggest that the open style of governance is really just a disguise for much more informal decision-making by the same old dominating countries, but more importantly by the major multinational corporations. Non-governmental organizations have no clear place in the decision-making processes. This is a major drawback in particular for generally under-resourced women’s groups globally. None of the their documents show any sensitivity to gender analysis or the effects trade policies may have on women and men.
Who is responsible for it?

The WTO is guided by a Ministerial Conference, which meets at least once every two years and is open to representatives of all WTO members. The first Ministerial conference was held in Singapore in December, 1996 and the second one was held in Geneva in May, 1998. The Ministers adopt a communiqué in their meetings which sets their future work priorities. The General Council, also open to all members, supervises the work of the organization’s various councils and committees, and sits as both the Dispute Settlement Body and the Trade Policy Review Body. The WTO Secretariat is based in Geneva. Canada’s Minister for International Trade is our representative to the Ministerial Conference. The General Trade Policy Bureau of DFAIT is responsible for this area.

Key events
The WTO negotiated a new permanent Agreement on Financial Services which will come into effect on March 1, 1999. It will be an appendix to the existing General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). For Canada, this agreement means that foreign financial service providers must be treatedthe same as Canadian and foreign banks will be allowed to establish direct branches in Canada.

While no formal decision has been announced, it is expected that the WTO will host further negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) (see below for details).

How can women’s groups be involved?
Women’s groups can work with other Canadian and international non-governmental organizations like the Council of Canadians or Women Take on the World Trade Organization (WTO2), to keep informed about the state of the WTO work especially around the MAI. As well, groups can pressure the federal Minister of Trade to ensure women’s groups representatives are part of all Canadian WTO delegations. Women’s groups need to press the Ministers of Finance and Trade to identify the gender-based analysis done in relation to the WTO, and to address the commitments made in the Beijing Platform for Action on international trade. As well, it is important to call the Ministers of Trade and Finance to keep the possible negotiations processes around new trade agreements, including the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, more open and accountable to the people of Canada. Canadian delegations to the WTO should include at least two non-governmental women’s representatives who are accountable to equality-seeking women’s groups. The Canadian government should also be encouraged to work towards creating status for non-governmental organizations within the WTO structure. Groups can also request funding from DFAIT to attend and observe these meetings.

Bilateral (country-to-country) agreements

Canada -Chile trade, environment and labour agreements
The free trade, environment and labour agreements came into force in July 1997 and are modelled after the NAFTA agreements. The free trade agreement is maintained by the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement Commission which first met in January 1998. The environment agreement is maintained by the Canada-Chile Commission for Environmental Cooperation and supported by a national secretariat in each country. The labour cooperation agreement is maintained by the Canada-Chile Commission for Labour Cooperation and supported by national secretariats. Responsibility for the labour agreement rests with Human Resources Development Canada’s Strategic Policy and Partnerships branch.

Canada-Israel trade agreement
Canada entered a free trade agreement with Israel in 1996. The final duties will be removed on goods as of July 1, 1999.

Canada- EFTA trade agreement
The government of Canada is currently negotiating a free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association which includes the countries of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. It is expected the agreement will be concluded in mid-1999.

Canada - Palestine trade agreement
Canada is currently negotiating a trade agreement with Palestine. It is expected to be completed in early 1999 and will be as similar as possible to the Canada - Israel free trade agreement.
Investment policy agreements
There have been many agreements on investment adopted since the United Nations began. These provide guidelines for transnational corporations actions in countries that they invest in. Most have been regional agreements or those drafted by non-governmental organizations such as the International Chambers of Commerce. But there have been at least twelve agreements made by international organizations which have been binding, including parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement and at least 14 which were non-binding. The non-binding agreements have been adopted by the World Trade Organization, the OECD, APEC and the World Bank. The most recent investment agreements were the 1997 WTO General Agreement on financial services and the 1997 OECD Convention on bribing foreign officials in international business transactions. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has been monitoring investment agreements to help developing countries use these when multinational corporations want to invest in their countries. UNCTAD’s Commission on Investment, Technology and other related financial matters held an expert group meeting on investment agreements in April 1998.

Monetary policy organizations and agreements
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established just after World War II to ensure that there would be a sound international financial system in place around the world. It is responsible for helping countries when they are having troubles meeting their financial obligations, as a lender of last resort, and regulating international currency flows. The IMF has 182 members, including Canada, and is governed by a Board of Governors. Members sign on to the Articles of Agreement which in effect give guidelines for their country’s economic policies. The IMF monitors the exchange rate policies of all members and does a thorough review of individual countries’ monetary policies every second year under Article IV. Canada is currently under going its 1999 Article IV consultations. The Board of Governors meets annually. The most recent meeting was in October-November 1998.

Tax policy agreements
OECD Tax policy recommendations
The OECD argues that some tax guidelines are crucial in a time of globalisation because they want to make sure that businesses are not being doubly taxed, that tax havens are ended and that governments do not use reduced taxes to attract businesses. The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs developed and the Ministers of Finance adopted Guidelines on Harmful Preferential Tax Regimes in April 1998. In addition, an OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices will be created to implement the recommendations.

International Agreements on the Horizon
Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA)
This agreement is currently under negotiations with the 34 countries which make up the FTAA and completion is expected by 2004. Canada is currently the Chair of the FTAA and the chair of its Trade Negotiation Committee until Oct. 31, 1999. Canada will host the meeting of Ministers of Trade of the FTAA in Toronto, November 1-2, 1999. A special invitation has been made to civil society groups to express their views to the Committee of Government Representatives on Civil Society Participation. All submissions must be made no later than March 31, 1999.

Contact the committee chairperson at:
c/o Tripartite Committee (Ref. Civil Society)
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
1825 K St. NW, Suite 1120
Washington, DC 20006
Fax: (202) 296-0826
E-Mail: eclac@tmn.com [5]
For further information on the FTAA agreement, see:
www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/news/statements [6]

Multilateral Agreement on Investment
The Multilateral Agreement on Investment is intended to be a bill of rights for investors, primarily multinational businesses. It will require that governments treat foreign businesses the same as local businesses and remove any restrictions to their work within a country. It will allow free movement for business across the world and allow business to sue governments which fail to provide this. It has been under secret discussion at the OECD for the past two years. In the fall of 1998, France withdrew from the discussions and OECD negotiations have ended. Negotiations will likely move to the World Trade Organization, possibly in the Working Group on the relationship between trade and investment. Critics have argued that the MAI will change the international system as we know it, giving the same rights to businesses as to states, without any accountability to the people of the world. The MAI will also promote low-wage, limited protection jobs, undermine community development programs and hurt the environment.
APEC Free Trade agreements
The leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries have agreed to work towards free trade agreements with their countries. The goal is to have agreements for ‘developed’ countries (including Canada) by 2010 and for ‘developing’ countries by 2020.

Now We Know, Where Do We Go?
To take part in economic decision-making, women need to be informed, stay informed and act on the basis of their knowledge about the economy. (Unless of course you win the lottery and get a chance to join by becoming a stockholder!!) Women’s groups can put the knowledge they have gained about the global economy to good use within their own communities.
EXAMINE how globalisation has changed or is changing your community.

Do you see the effects of globalisation in the loss of jobs for women, in the rise of part-time or piece work jobs? Do you see in the loss of bank branches in your community? Do you see it in the takeover of small Canadian companies by large multinational corporations? Do you see it in the loss of unionized jobs in your communities? Do you see health care services like home care or food to hospitals being privatized in the name of “global competition”? Spend some time on exploring where you see globalisation taking a hold in your community. Are its effects all bad or all good? How have they (or could they) potentially benefit your community? Where are there real potential losses?

GATHER INFORMATION about those changes from those involved in your community
Which companies, unions, or banks are involved in these changes? See if you can meet with their representatives in your community. Ask to speak with them about how they see these changes affecting life in your community. Talk to the workers affected and find out what they know about the changes. Make sure you ask if you may share their stories with the broader public. Look at your local newspaper and see how it has covered the stories of these changes.

COMPARE the changes with the commitments made by governments
Become familiar with the commitments made by our governments to women’s equality, human rights, the elimination of poverty and discussed in part above. Compare how these commitments have been kept, where the spirit of them has been violated or where the commitments have been broken.

CONFRONT the government with its record on keeping its commitments.
Identify which part of government is responsible for the economic changes. Write, meet or telephone the Ministers responsible as well as your local representative and tell them what you think about these changes. Remind them of their commitments and tell them what you think of their actions.

MAKE IT PUBLIC
Share the information you have gathered, including any responses you may have had from governments, with sympathetic media representatives. If you can’t find one, offer to write an op-ed piece for your local newspaper or write a letter to the editor. The best way to pitch a story to the press is to include a local, human-interest angle. This is where you use the stories of those affected by the changes and contrast them with the record of the governments in keeping their commitments. Your story will be more successful if you link it to an event like the signing of a new trade deal or a meeting of country leaders for an international organization. You can also organize a local event to protest these international events and their effects in your community.

MAKE LINKS with other groups
Make links with other groups in your area, province, nationally or internationally. Find out from other groups how their communities are being affected. See what actions they have taken. See if you can find common areas for action. Share your success stories as well as your challenges.
MONITOR the on-going commitments and their effects.
Monitor what is happening on the international stage. This includes where governments have made new trade or investment agreements or joined new international economic organizations. Read the Globe and Mail or the National Post. They regularly report on what new agreements are being negotiated and who is taking over whom. Ask the Ministers of Trade, Finance and Foreign Affairs to report on the work they are doing in these areas.
Stay informed about what the government has committed on women’s equality, poverty elimination, social development or human rights. This information is harder to get through the media and you may have to get on the mailing list of the Minister responsible for women or check the PAR-L website on the Internet. The URL is: www.unb.ca/PAR-L [7]
Important Canadian Addresses
You can write all Members of Parliament postage-free at the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 1C3.
Herb Dahliwal, Minister of National Revenue
Telephone: (613) 995-7052
Fax: (613) 995-2962
Paul Martin, Minister of Finance
Telephone: (613) 992-4284
Fax: (613) 992-4291
Email: Martin.P@parl.gc.ca [8]
Budget statements are available from: Finance Canada
Telephone: 613-995-2855
Fax 613-996-0518
Website: www.fin.gc.ca/access/budinfoe.html [9]
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Suite 804, 251 Laurier Ave. W., Ottawa, ON, K1P 5J6
Telephone: 613-563-1341
Fax: 613-233-1458
Email: ccpa@policyalternatives.ca [10]
Website for alternative budget: www.policyalternatives.ca [11]
Finance Canada 140 O’Connor St., Ottawa, ON K1A 0G5
Telephone: 613-992-1573
Bank of Canada 234 Wellington, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0G9
Telephone: 1-800-303-1282
Fax: (613) 782-7713
E-mail: paffairs@bank-banque-canada.ca [12]
Sergio Marchi, Minister of International Trade
Telephone: (613) 947-4177
Fax: (613) 947-4452
Email: Marchi.S@parl.gc.ca [13]
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions 255 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H2
Telephone. 1-800-385-8647
Email: extcomm@osfi-bsif.gc.ca [14]
Claudette Bradshaw, Minister of Labour
Human Resources Development Canada
Ottawa, Canada KlA 0J2
(819) 994-6313 (information number)
Alfonso Gagliano, Minster of Public Works and Government Services
Telephone: (613) 995-9415
Fax: (613) 992-8523
Email: Gagliano.A@parl.gc.ca [15]
Business Development Bank, 280 Albert St. 3rd Floor, Ottawa, ON KlP 5G8
Telephone: 1 888 INFO BDC
Email: bus-service-center@bdc.x400.gc.ca [16]
Canadian International Business Strategy Working Group
Telephone: (613) 944-1817
Fax: (613) 996-9265
Email: strategy.cib@extott16.x400.gc.ca [17]
Website: strategis.ic.gc.ca
NAFTA Secretariat (Canada)
Tel: (613) 992-9385
Fax: (613) 992-9392