GERA Research: Phase 1 Findings| Phase Two | GERA Phase Two--The Story So Far

Aims and objectives of Phase I

• Undertaking African-designed policy research, training, and/or advocacy projects that meet country- and region-specific needs, with priority given to projects that link research and advocacy;
• Building the capacity of African non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to lobby for gender-aware economic policy alternatives; ? Building upon the existing research base on gender and economic reforms and promote alternatives; and
• Promoting and strengthening linkages among African researchers, trainers, advocates, and policymakers; South-South linkages; North-South linkages; local-national linkages; national-regional linkages; support mentoring relationships.

Partners
These projects were implemented in 12 sub-Saharan countries within 16 organisations. Organisations which included university departments, NGOs (engaged in either policy advocacy, research and capacity building or any combination of these) and one national bank. They are the Rural Development Group in Cameroon; the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER); the Faculty of Economics of the Universite du Benin at Lome, Togo and the Institute of Development Studies in Tanzania, which are all university based. Civil society organisations included Association of Women Lawyers of Chad with the liaison and information cell of the Chad Women's Association; Association of Women Scientists of Burkina Faso; Women in Law in Southern Africa Research Trust in Zimbabwe; and Centre for the Development of People, Ghana and Associates for Change, Uganda, Children's Aid-Ethiopia, and World University Services, the Centre for Social Science Research and Development in Nigeria and the Economic and Social Policy Initiative, Kenya, among others. The Women's Credit Desk of the Bank of Uganda was also a GERA Phase I partner.

Overview of the major findings of the GERA Phase I projects

a) Financial Sector Reforms

Have been implemented throughout the 1990s to stimulate a more efficient and profitable financial sector. Liberalization policies and prescribed institutional changes has meant that borrowers are having to meet much tougher conditions to get a bank loan. In Uganda, for example, these changes have meant that banks essentially provide services only to clientele that own titled land, have long term relationships with the banks, or have at least 50% of the funds needed to start a business or project. In Uganda, where only 7 percent of women own land, it is clear that the banking system is out of reach for them. However, the research found that women didn't want to use the banks - the transaction costs both in terms of time and money --were too high, and therefore too much of a disincentive.

Women are therefore turning to semi-formal (i.e. microcredit) or informal forms of financial services. The Cameroon study demonstrates that because of the weaknesses of both the formal and semi-formal financial sectors, women relay on informal sector services as their primary source of capital and location for savings and loans. Most commonly in the form of "tontines" (whereby each member regularly contributes a fixed agreed sum of money, and the benefits of their accessibility, fast credit delivery, and low transaction costs. Informal women's groups also exist to support social and other community needs using methods of pooled resources. In Cameroon, women in the study stated that group formation and organization were an essential survival strategy in the face of economic hardship.

According to the Cameroon study, only 3 percent of women could access semi-formal microcredit, due to savings requirements that pose too great an obstacle to that sector. Therefore, almost entirely dependent on informal sources of finance - women acquire very tiny sums of money as part of their coping strategy, but these sums are insufficient to lead women and their families out of poverty.

b) Monetary policies - devaluation

Another finding, borne out by three studies in francophone West Africa, relates to the impact of monetary policies. In 1994, all countries in the CFA zone devalued their franc by 50% as part of a broader economic reform strategy to realign an overvalued currency that had made exports prohibitively expensive and caused local industries to suffer.

Devaluation had both positive and negative impacts. In Mali, for instance, there is a noticeable increase in revenues from rice production - money that is accruing to both women and men. There are also new market opportunities that small-scale producers have been able to take advantage of. But at the same time, the costs of inputs have gone way up - so women increase their workloads to compensate. Especially in polygamous communities, the researchers found that men were actually contributing less than before for their children. For most men incomes decreased due to higher production ocsts, and therefore contributions to their wives decreased - in essence transferring their responsibilities for the children to women almost entirely.

c) Implications for the informal sector

The informal sector, a large and critical mainstay of many African economies has been seen by some as a haven for many women because of the ease and flexibility of entry. However, because much of the work in this sector is unskilled, it is usually poorly remunerated and can be the site of serious exploitation. One of the Nigerian case studies reaffirms that women's enterprises usually number the majority in the informal sector - so while fewer, men's informal enterprises tend to be in the more lucrative exporting, bulk retial, or finished product sectors. Overall, increases in prices of inputs and a credit squeeze resulting from fiscal and monetary policies have led to tremendous jumps in capital requirements for informal sector operators. Without access to capital, the Nigerian women are, for example, turning to lower quality inputs and thereby lowering the quality of their products - with all the commensurate effects that this would bring about.

d) Coping Mechanisms

Many of the GERA studies focused on how women and men, in the formal and informal sectors, responded to the reforms. These responses were essential for survival, but NOT long-term sustainable development alternatives.

While indeed, some of the responses may be the same for men and women, many are clearly gendered. For instance, according to a study on Nigerian factory workers, unlike men, women have to develop special coping strategies, namely, eating protein only during pay weeks, or limiting the number of meals to one or two a day, walking rather than taking transportation, buy second hand clothing, use traditional medicines to self-medicate and so on. Many formal workers too need to juggle multiple sources of income. In fact, these studies demonstrate that the connections between the formal and informal sectors need to be explored further so as to increase understanding of the implications of the growing phenomenon of informalization of work.

e) Women's groups, policy processes and strategies for gender equality and advocacy

African women's organizations and NGOs working with women have responded to economic reforms in a variety of ways. Only recently have we found that the women's movement has been engaging with economic policy issues and therefore attempt to tackle policy advocacy. Indeed, the task of helping women find their voice in the policy-making process is a complicated undertaking and faces many obstacles - a male dominated policy-making system; the limited capacity of women's organizations in economic analysis; and the general complexities of policy-making processes and institutions in Africa and beyond.

For example, one project in Uganda first had to study the private sector to enable it to identify where and how women's groups could intervene most effectively. The study finds that what is considered the "private sector" by the government, donors, and the corporations excludes micro - and small scale sector - where women predominate. As a result of its preliminary research, this GERA project team was able to draw attention to the neglect of the micro sector and women. The study informed the government, donors and private sector organizations that women's perspectives had been excluded. Furthermore, the project alerted the NGOs of the extent of the influence of the private sector and motivated their interest in economic policy isues.

Phase II Background
Economic reforms driven by the IMF and the World Bank in Africa over the last decades have exacerbated the gender-based constraints which account for women's economic subordination and unequal status in Africa. The results of the research projects carried out under the first phase of the GERA Programme confirm that economic stabilisation policies and structural adjustment programs (SAPs) had worsened the situation of women and reinforced existing inequalities by region and along class lines. At the same time, these policies have contributed to the definition of Africa's integration into the contemporary global regime for the regulation of international trade and investment. Since the early 80s, internal economic policy changes and strategies have increasingly relied on market-based, export-led, and private sector driven growth, while the foreign private sector led by the transnational corporations (TNCs) has become the vital factor in economic development strategy.

Policies of economic stabilisation and structural adjustment programs (SAPs) have contributed to the definition of Africa's integration into the contemporary global regime for the regulation of international trade and investment. Since the early 80s, internal economic policy changes and strategies have increasingly relied on market-based, export-led, and private sector driven growth, while the foreign private sector led by the transnational corporations (TNCs) has become the vital factor in economic development strategy.

A number of international agreements have emerged to consolidate the structural reforms carried out by African countries and institutionalise them at the multilateral level. The most important of these, the WTO, brings under a single regime rules covering the movement of goods, services, and capital, and affects policies adopted by African countries in trade, investment and national development. Other agreements like the Lome Convention, the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and bilateral investment treaties have similar implications. While proponents see these developments as opportunities for economic growth and Africa's development, an increasing number of critics argue that trade and investment liberalisation policies have proved to have detrimental effects on sustainable livelihoods in African countries, with increasing evidence of their negative impact on women and gender relations. It is also suggested that these policies are undermining Africa's regional integration initiatives promoted through regional groupings such as ECOWAS, SADC, and COMESA.

While both sides recognise the far reaching consequences of the emerging issues of trade and investment policies for Africa's development and gender relations, there is a lack of adequate and concrete knowledge of the precise nature of these implications. This calls not only for systematic study of the gender dimensions of these policies and their impacts, so as to generate well-informed African perspectives on trade and investment issues and their gender dimensions, it also calls for an increased women's participation in national, regional and international advocacy around these issues.

In order to proactively respond to those challenges, the GERA Programme Phase II research focuses on gender, trade and investment policy in Africa.

Research and Themes
Phase II research proposals are focusing on the following:

• Trade and /or investment dimensions of economic reforms and their impact on women and gender relations.
• The broad international investment and trade system with its framework agreements like the WTO, the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (formerly the Lome Convention) and AGOA, as well as bilateral treaties, and their implications for and / or impact on women and gender relations.
• The specific rules and agreements under the WTO and their implications for and/or impact on women and gender relations.
• The governance dimension of issues related to gender, trade and investment with regards to women's participation in trade and investment decision-making processes at the national, regional and global level, and to the impact of new decision-making processes brought about by the creation of WTO on women's ability to participate in those processes.
• The impacts of the international investment and trade system on regional integration initiatives in Africa such as ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, etc.
• Alternative economic frameworks that could be developed to address gender, trade and investment issues.

---

GERA Phase Two--The Story So Far

Studies from eight African countries show that neo-liberal economic and trade policies have impacted adversely and disproportionately on women in Africa. The studies, undertaken as part of the Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa (GERA) Programme, came up with alternatives to the dominant neo-liberal economic paradigm.

The research activities, carried out under the GERA Phase II programme, constitute an advance on the Phase I which had focused particularly on the impacts of structural adjustment programmes on African women. Research conducted under Phase I led to recommendations that met the more practical and immediate needs of the community at the micro level and signalled some important changes required at this level.

Also in the course of GERA Phase I, new developments in Africa’s economic relationship to the rest of the world emerged. These were in the form of bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreements which in effect consolidated and institutionalised the structural reforms carried out by African countries in 1980s and ‘90s. Among the agreements were the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), enacted by the United States Congress, changes in the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific agreement, and most significantly, the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Against this background, research projects under GERA Phase II sought, in addition to bringing out the impacts of the neo-liberal economic and trade policies on African women, to explore the alternative economic frameworks that could be developed to address gender, trade and investment issues.

To undertake the research, GERA invited African women researchers and organisations to send in proposals for studies on the impacts/implications on women and gender relations of: • Trade and/or investment dimensions of economic reforms • The broad international investment and trade system with its framework agreements like the WTO agreements, the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (formerly the Lomé Convention) and AGOA, as well as issues related to various forms of capital inflows • The governance dimension of issues related to gender, trade and investment, with regards to women’s participation in trade and investment decision-making processes at the national, regional and global level • The international investment and trade system on regional integration initiatives in Africa such as ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, etc. •

Country reports
The research period of Phase II commenced in the middle of 2001 while the advocacy period which followed the research was actively embarked on in 2002. Research activities under Phase II research were carried out in eight African countries namely, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Summaries of the research findings are as follows:

In Burkina Faso, the research team examined the impact of liberalisation polices adopted by the country’s government in 1994 on the livelihoods of local rice and shea butter producers.

Findings
The researchers observed that liberalisation process in Burkina Faso has mainly involved the state’s withdrawal from economic activities in the expectation that private actors would take its place. However, the development has worsened the situation of local rice and shea butter producers, with women in both sub-sectors bearing the greater weight of the burden.

Among some of the consequences of the government’s withdrawal from economic life is the turning over of irrigation dam management to rice farmers who cannot afford the cost of maintenance and whose livelihoods are already threatened by massive importations of rice due to import liberalisation policies.

In addition to this, farmers have seen the prices of their production inputs and equipment go up as a result of currency devaluation and the withdrawal of subsidies. It has become difficult for the rice farmers to access good quality inputs and equipment after the divestiture of state enterprises responsible for providing these inputs.

These problems are felt more by women, who have difficulties in acquiring land for farming purposes because of the criteria used in allocating irrigated lands to farmers. These include among others, the number of employees a farmer has. Because women farmers mostly have small and undeveloped plots, they also have poor harvests and therefore poor income. As a result of traditional factors, women rice farmers face greater obstacles than men in their attempts to access credit facilities.

With regards to shea butter, research into the sub-sector showed that while collection and production activities are is still dominated by women, productivity in the sector is still very low. Production techniques have hardly changed over the centuries. The extraction of the butter is mainly a women’s activity, involving old traditional and highly labour intensive methods. The women mainly sell their products through retailing, which is very slow and unprofitable.

However women become less visible as one moves up the value addition chain. Although the industry received a boost in the early ‘90s following an approval granted by the European Union to include shea butter in chocolate manufacturing, industrial processing and big volume trade of the butter for export is dominated by men. The women are often limited to their local markets due to the inadequacy of resources at their disposal.

The research also found out that although the financial requirements of both men and women in the shea butter industry are modest, they are often unable to access the required funds to improve upon their activities. However on account of their better financial standing, men process larger quantities than women who are restricted to producing small quantities.

The researchers noted that while the shea butter industry is an important livelihood industry for significant number of Burkinabe families; it is still characterised by rudimentary production practices because the State has failed to provide the needed support. For example, the industry is not studied in the country’s agricultural institutions. The study suggested that the industry could make great progress if adequate investments are made in preservation facilities, processing equipment and better transport networks. This could be backed by efforts to organise producers into cooperatives and more attention paid to the needs of small scale economic producers.

In Ghana, the research investigated the impact of trade policies on traders in general, particularly female traders. The research was undertaken by two female researchers, Akosua Darkwah and Mercy Ackumey of the Center for Social Policy Studies at University of Ghana. The research sites were the two largest markets in Ghana for consumer goods and food items – Kumasi Central market in Kumasi and the Makola market in Accra The research lasted over a six-month period and involved interviews with 200 traders, a 100 from each study site.

Findings

There has been an explosion in the number of people trading in global consumer goods as a consequence of the country’s adoption of structural adjustment policies in 1983. While this has meant economic opportunities for some traders, it has also meant fewer buyers for those traditionally involved in the trade who are mainly women.

Women traders now face increased competition from their male counterparts who often come in with more capital than they. The economic position of female traders meant that they dealt mainly in light consumer goods while male traders dealt in the potentially more lucrative technologically sophisticated consumer goods.

One effect of economic policies adopted by the country since SAPS has been spiralling inflation and high interest rates. The high interest rates charged by the commercial banks have meant traders avail themselves of bank credit only as a last resort.

Intended benefits of policy changes such as decreased taxes were often nullified by effects of other policies such as currency devaluation

Traders in general, but more women than men, were often ignorant about policy changes such as the changes in taxation made in the year 2000. Women were far more likely to be unaware of changes in policy than their male counterparts.

Some of the changes were however viewed positively by the traders. For instance, both female and male traders overwhelmingly preferred Ghana’s adoption of destination inspection that had been adopted in line with WTO regulations. This was because it reduced the length of time between the purchase of consumer goods abroad and the arrival of these goods in Ghana.

Other changes in policy, such as the special tax had a differential impact on traders depending on the goods the trader sold. This occurred because of the sex segregation evident in the type of goods traded in the distributive sector. Though the special taxes were aimed at protecting local manufacturing companies, they hit women traders more in view of the items they trade in i.e. light consumer goods.

In their attempt to mitigate the financial costs associated with the changes in policy and procedure, traders attempt to pass on the increased costs to consumers in the form of increased prices. But in an economic environment of too many traders and low incomes, increased prices simply translate into decreased sales and profits for the traders involved.

Women as household managers were the ones burdened with the problem of feeding families on ever decreasing incomes,.

For all of these traders, the idea of advocacy for change at the national level was far-fetched. Traders have little faith in their ability to influence national policy either at the conception or implementation stage. The idea of unions as a mouthpiece for the concerns of particular groups of workers did not resonate well with the traders as evident in the generally low rates of unionisation among the traders. Women, though members of unions, were unable to attend meetings as often as men and held few of the executive positions.

Positive experiences
The research enabled the researchers to build a solid rapport with executives of the various market associations. The linkages created with these associations during that period remain to this day and can be drawn upon, as and when the need for further collaborative work arises.

Advocacy Advocacy work has been focused primarily at the national level on the associations of various categories of traders. The advocacy phase also enabled researchers to create linkages with groups that had international linkages. The research team worked specifically with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), the informal sector desk of the Trades Union Congress and members of a relatively new NGO, Streetnet-Ghana which has affiliation with the well-known Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of India.

The first two groups were made up of traders who were relatively well off and had better legal status/standing than the members of Streetnet. The latter are basically street sellers who buy goods from importers of global consumer items and then sell these goods at a profit.

For advocacy, it was also found that interests do not have to match up one on one for collaborative efforts to take place. However, so long as there is enough of an overlap of their interests, various groups can work together to advocate for particular issue(s). To sustain advocacy networks, reconnaissance meetings where the coalition members are constantly reminded of the issues for which they were going to advocate as a team need to be held to ensure a united front.

Meetings to be held between traders and various state agencies as part of this study will serve to provide advocacy as a third option available to traders in the face of changing national and international policies.

Communication strategy
Print and audio-visual channels of communication were used to disseminate information. The decision was based on individuals’ differing preferences and options for accessing information. Policy briefs and a documentary were produced as part of the information dissemination effort. The tools used allowed key officials to get the information in different ways and from different channels. They also ensured an expanded audience for advocacy efforts.

Drawback
These documents were produced in English, the official language of communication in Ghana, which is however not understood by a significant number of people. One implication of this is that the majority of traders at the lower end of the trading hierarchy who face similar problems to those raised in the policy briefs and documentary could possibly not be able to access the information.

In Kenya, the research focused on the impact of agricultural trade liberalisation on women and food security. The hosting organization was the Resources Oriented Development Initiatives, (RODI). The study was carried out by a team of six researchers in two districts in the county. One district, Uasin Gishu, is one of Kenya’s leading maize and wheat producer and the other, the Busia district, is often a deficit maize producing area located on the Kenya-Uganda border.

The research focused on three commodities: maize – the major staple crop; wheat because of its international trade aspects; and dairy – an important enterprise for small-scale farmers in the liberalised economy.

Findings
The Kenyan study found out that trade liberalisation has resulted in steep increases in the prices of farm inputs, accompanied by low producer prices. The situation has depressed farm income and posed a serious threat to household food security. The study noted that although agricultural trade liberalisation had some advantages; these were by far outweighed by the disadvantages.

Specifically, the study found that:

Liberalisation has not helped to improve the status of women

Women were now taking on greater responsibilities which have increased their workloads

Women’s opportunities for decision-making have not improved

Women have very little control in the allocation of resources at the household level, especially land, and

Apart from minor farm produce such as vegetables, eggs and chickens, men still control the income from the main farm commodities.

The study also identified a number of issues that need to be addressed in order to improve women’s welfare, including:

Women’s access to training, markets and resources such as land, farm inputs and credit as well as control over farm incomes.

The organization of women into marketing groups

Women’s participation in decision-making at household, community and policy levels

Positive Experiences
Positive experiences arising from the research included: • Capacity building/advocacy through the use of groups and workshops linked with the research • Generation of goodwill for the advocacy stage through dissemination of research at feedback workshops. • High interest and recognition of research by policy makers and Government (e.g. during launch of policy brief) • The use of results/findings in various forums and in the formation of a strong district-wide advocacy group - the Uasin Gishu Small Scale Farmers’ Group. • Research findings have encouraged farmers to address their situation by coming together to jointly market their cereals and buy farm inputs • The study proved useful to preparations leading to Cancun, particularly in the discussions/proposals for the Special Products in the WTO AOA negotiations.

In Madagascar, the study investigated the working conditions of female workers in the free zones enterprises. Three researchers, Tiana Rambeloma, Valérie Rabeson and Francis Andrianarison, undertook the studies. The actual research phase commenced in November 2001 and ended in October 2002. The delay in starting the project was due primarily to the political situation in Madagascar in the first half of 2002 which made it difficult to collect field data.

Findings
The study found out that:

Female workers in the free zones accepted their harsh working conditions because of their poor economic status and low level of education

The working conditions in the free zones put the women and adolescent girls’ heath at risk

The country’s labour code was outdated and insufficiently protective of working women’s rights

While the free zones have allowed women some degree of economic independence, this has in no way reduced women’s domestic responsibilities. Women’s overall workload has therefore increased

Recommendations

Improve working women’s capacity in terms of th7eir rights and literacy

International cooperation is needed to set international standards in order to counter investment competition based on reduction of social standards

Provide support unions and women’s organisation to improve access to information on working conditions and regulations while building their capacities to negotiate and lead collective actions

Support evaluative studies on trade and investment policies.

Improve the capacity of government and civil society on the World Trade Organisation

Encourage the participation of more women in politics

Positive points
• Capacity building: in gender approach, global governance (WTO, AGOA, ACP/EU), qualitative analysis. • Networking o Exchange of experiences: methodology, approach, results with other teams (ILRIG, Clean Clothes). o Sharing of information: gender issues, globalisation and trade. o At the national level: cooperation with other institutions, like the National Statistical Institute (INSTAT). The project has helped to improve INSTAT data (national statistics), especially with regards to gender. o Exchange of information with other gender-oriented organisations.

Drawbacks
• The political atmosphere in 2002, coupled with the involvement of other stakeholders, particularly the unions in the research phase, was unfavourable for data collection. • The Free Zones issue constitutes a critical (sensitive) problem in the country’s development strategy, especially after the 2002 crisis.

Advocacy phase
The actual advocacy phase commenced in August 2003. Among the activities carried out were meetings with the unions and workers, international organisations and the media.

a) Meeting with international organisations Informal meetings were held with officials of the social and human rights programme of international organisations such as the World Bank, USAID and UNDP. Points included the findings of the research as well as the need to address the precarious conditions of workers, especially women, in the Free Zones were discussed. The findings of the research were submitted to the World Bank official responsible for the drafting of the working document for the future direction of the World Bank’s activities in Madagascar so that he could incorporate part of the conclusions in it. A new gender programme is being put in place at USAID, and future discussions with officials will show the extent to which they could address some of the recommendations. The same applies to UNDP.

b) Workshop with workers and unions Two minor workshops were organized for trade unions and workers’ groups. The first workshop was meant for the biggest union, UGTEM (Madagascar Enterprise Workers Union). UGTEM is quite new, for it was born out of the 2002 political crisis. Its members include workers of the Free Zones who encountered difficulties during the crisis, and workers of both the public and private sectors. UGTEM is the Union with most delegates and workers representatives in Madagascan enterprises, especially in the Free Zones. The second workshop was a meeting with workers and UGTEM. During the first part of the workshop, GERA researchers presented the research findings, followed by questions and debate. The second part of the seminar was devoted to testimonies and debates by workers and UGTEM. The workshop lasted a whole day.

A workshop on Liberalisation and Living Conditions of Women in the Free Zones, brought together over 60 participants: workers, unions, civil societies working in the area of human rights, journalists, policy-makers and researchers. Extensive media coverage was given before and during the workshop. The first part of the workshop was devoted to presentations by the GERA team on the strong points of the research and the main political implications. The second part dealt with testimonies by workers or representatives of unions on cases of abuses or irregularities or the precarious nature of working conditions of workers in the Free Zones. Testimonies were organized in such a way as to be representative of problems facing workers in the Free Zones, ranging from non-compliance with standards of the labour environment to abuses and impact on living conditions. The third part was devoted to a discussion that ended with joint recommendations.

One of the most important recommendations was that a memorandum should be drawn up by GERA team and presented to the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic.

To raise the awareness of the public on the living conditions of workers in the Free Zones, mass communications channels, particularly the two most widely read newspapers, radio and television were used. In collaboration with journalists, articles were prepared for newspapers. Three television channels covered the activities, especially the workshop. Following these actions, issues concerning the Free Zones enjoyed month long extensive coverage by the media.

Four policy briefs were also prepared distributed to participants and invited guests.

Positive points
• Networking with the unions (UGTEM), the civil society working in the area of human rights: National Commission on Human Rights) CNDH). • Closer links with journalists. • Social conditions in the Free Zones were made public through radio, television and newspapers. • The research became a catalyst for collaboration between the unions and workers and NGOs working in the area of human rights.

Negative points
• Limited action with the unions. • Limited action with the government.

The research helped to raise awareness on the problems of the Free Zones and initiated public debate on the issue. Prior to this study, discussions on the Free Zones dwelt mainly on the macro-economic impacts on employment, the sector’s contribution to trade balance, especially exports and the volume of investment.

In Nigeria, the study examined the effects of the activities of multinational oil corporations, specifically, Mobil Exxon on communities in the Akwa-Ibom State in Niger Delta Area. Among the findings were indications that the activities of Mobil Exxon:

Led to the loss of farmlands and fishing grounds which it took over in the construction of exploration sites or oil wells.

Have had a significant and negative impact on the availability of fish products in the area. Fishermen reported that the catch from the high seas have been dismal compared to the pre-oil drilling time when they used to catch large quantities of fish

Negatively affected women’s fishing activities. Women used to earn significant incomes from marine products that they got from around the beach and swamps but these products have either disappeared or become very difficult to find. The situation of the women has been made more dire by the fact that prices of fish have risen sharply.

Resulted in increased risks for the fishermen, due particularly to oil spills which make their nets unusable and to heavy construction equipment which often tear the nets. Study respondents complained that while these occurrences are common, fishermen do not receive any compensation from the oil companies for their losses.

Resulted in strained relationship between the local population and oil companies. The youth in particular are extremely frustrated by the lack of benefits for their communities, particularly in the areas of employment and contracts with the oil companies. Very few local people have been employed in the oil companies. Females, in particular, hardly get the chance to work with the oil companies.

There is lack of communication between communities and oil officials.

Tension between the oil companies and the communities has led to conflicts. The conflicts that commonly arise due to the activities of the oil companies have been:

o Between Mobil officials and youth, o Within the community between the elders and the youth, and o Within the community between oil companies and rural women.

Young men in the communities allege that Mobil is using ‘divide and rule’ tactics, by ‘settling’ the elders (i.e. bribing them) to stand against the youth.

The conflict between the youth and elders usually arise over the sharing of largesse from Mobil and its contracting firms. They take umbrage with Mobil Exxon’s attempt to retain the support of the leaders by either paying a monthly financial subvention or allocating jobs or contracts to them. This has caused disagreement and conflict between the elders and the youths who feel their views neither being considered nor being heard.

Another source of conflict between the oil companies and the local population derives from the broken promises from the companies. Recently, for example, Mobil promised to install a gas turbine at Iwoachang to give uninterrupted electricity supply to the whole community. Exxon-Mobil did not fulfill their promise and a serious conflict occurred.

Recourse to the use of law enforcement agents to restore order when the situation gets out of hand and extends to Mobil or the contractors’ facilities has sometimes resulted in loss of life or serious injury.

In sum while the activities of Mobil Exxon has brought some advantages to the communities such as jobs, roads and assistance for primary schools and public amenities, revenue to government, scholarship programme, etc, the communities have suffered from environmental degradation particularly the pollution of soil, air and water; destruction of their roofs and housing, and high cost of living

In South Africa, the researchers investigated the impact of trade liberalisation on female workers in the South African footwear industry, generally considered as women’s industry within the manufacturing sector in South Africa. The research was undertaken by Ms. Hameda Deedat and Ms. Sara Mosoetsa of the International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG). The study investigated the situation in two provinces in the country – Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. These two provinces are the major footwear production centres in the country. The researchers chose six companies, three in each province. The following companies were identified: • Western Cape: Jordan, Barker and Olympic Flare; and • KwaZulu-Natal: Eddles, Dick Whittington and Corrida Shoes.

Findings
o The study found out how trade liberalisation has reduced a once thriving and protected industry to survival at best and collapse at worst. For decades, the footwear industry represented job security and a means of earning a decent wage. With globalisation and trade liberalisation, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction.

o Trade Liberalisation situation has resulted in hundreds or thousands of women and men in the footwear industry either losing their jobs through retrenchments or having to work harder for less pay. Female workers, in particular have been subjected to greater suffering and higher levels of exploitation, than their male counterparts. Harsh working conditions for women workers have included:

o Being subjected to aggression and verbal threats of being fired or replaced (Women’s economic or financial circumstances are continuously used as a noose around their necks, especially in the case of women who are single mothers or sole breadwinners).

o Being coerced into sexual relations with male supervisors

o Being victimised by men and women co-workers alike and by supervisors when pregnant or when they experience miscarriages at work.

o The high levels of job insecurity and conditions of flexibility, which imply being moved from department to department, are used as a deterrent to pregnancies. For example, it could take months before a woman who has been on maternity leave can return to her original, designated workstation

o The burden on women is intensified by the expectation that they fulfill their unpaid reproductive roles as well.

o Women face exploitation both at work and at home. At work, defending their rights as women and workers has resulted in dismissals, retrenchments and victimisation. At home, ‘insubordination’ has resulted in family squabbles, separation or divorce and domestic violence. Among the working class, globalisation has merely displaced empowerment from workers who had to those who did not have. Globalisation has come with more disadvantages than advantages.

o Companies have been eager to implement multi-skilling, multitasking and to create a flexible workforce, capitalising on its advantages during both peak and off-peak periods of production, at the expense of women’s and workers’ rights.

o This form of production facilitates implicitly crosses the gendered division of labour on the shop floor but it has not resulted in the upward harmonising of the differentials between men’s and women’s wages. Instead, it causes downward harmonising, since women in hitherto exclusively men’s positions earn less than what the men in those positions used to earn. Casual or contract women workers, who are paid a lower wage than full-time workers, were also used to achieve this.

o The feminisation of the labour process in the footwear industry in South Africa has also extended to the informal shoe sector. Globalisation is understood by some women as presenting them with employment opportunities that they otherwise would not have had. This is particularly so in the case of rural women. The footwear industry in Pietermaritzburg has been restructured in such a way that certain functions are completely outsourced to the informal sector. The result is retrenchments for some, new opportunities for others and increased feminisation. Many women who were in formal employment found their way back to the shoe industry after retrenchments by engaging in the informal sector.

o There are vast discrepancies between the quality of the jobs in the informal sector and those lost in the formal sector. Remuneration is far less, and the abundance of female labour keeps wages lower, there is greater job insecurity, there are no benefits, no sick leave and no holidays.

The irony, however, is that, in spite of the price women have been made to pay, it is still not sufficient to save the industry. It has not stopped factory closures; it has not saved jobs; it has not prevented the adoption of lean production or restructuring of the labour process. Instead, there is lean production, outsourcing and causalisation, and an ever-increasing informal shoe industry. This has been accompanied by an increase in imports and a decrease in shoes produced domestically.

Advocacy
During the period under review the main activity related to the writing of the Research Report and the production of a popular version of the same report. Preparations were also made for the production of Life Stories and a Popular Booklet that would be used in the Advocacy Programme. The report was also presented to ILRIG’s Globalisation School and while the ILRIG researcher attended other conferences locally and in Uganda where part of the research results were presented.

a. Research Report
A report was written and presented for review in August 2002. It was revised after receiving comments from the GERA Secretariat. A final copy was submitted in November 2002 to the GERA Secretariat.

b. Advocacy and presentation of findings
The preliminary results of the research and findings relating to the overall theme of Gender and Trade were presented at various conferences and workshops, including: • A meeting with shop stewards and workers involved in the research in early June 2002 • A workshop held in June 2002 with senior union officials of SACTWU, NULAW and NUMSA together with project research team from Madagascar. NUMSA was also drawn in to make comparisons on the aspects related to workplace restructuring. An internal workshop was also held with the Malagasy team. • Women’s World Conference held in Uganda August 2002 • Women’s Action Tent in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2003 • ILRIG Globalisation School in the gender and trade class of the school in 29 September – 4 October 2002. • ESSET of the South African Council of Churches meeting, held in Cape Town in November 2003 2. WORK IN PROGRESS
a. Popular Version of the Research Report Work on the Popular Version of the Research Report was only undertaken is nearing completion. Production of the Popular Booklet and compilation of Life Stories will be done in July and August of 2003.

b. Evaluation and Way Forward The research to date has enabled ILRIG to provide support to the unions, in particular NULAW and SACTWU and has created various opportunities for advocacy on trade and the gender dimension thereof.

The completion of a Popular Version of the report and the two popular publications foreseen together with briefings would enable the project to take the advocacy component forward. • Some of the issues that need further research are the elements of national trade and investment policies, their impacts on the different social groups, especially women, and their sectoral effects, e.g. on the private and informal sectors, cross-border trade, etc. • Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and how they affect the terms of ownership of and access to technology, their gender-based distribution, and the operation of women enterprises; • The abolition of measures to protect and encourage local enterprise under the Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) and its relationship to the marginalisation of women’s economic production/enterprise; • The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and its implication for women’s role and location in the service industry.

In Uganda, a team of six researchers investigated the implications of the way market access information is provided to male and female producers and exporters in the horticulture and fisheries sectors. The study sought to find out how the implications of WTO agreements, especially those relating to the Word Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) and Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary Agreements (SPS), are communicated to small scale female and male producers and exporters of horticulture and fish products in Uganda and the impact of the quality and quantity of the information on the activities of these producers and exporters.

The study found out among others, the majority of Uganda’s horticultural and fish producers and exporters often disadvantaged in international trade due to the number of imperfections in market access information available to them. Among the imperfections highlighted by the study were the following:

In spite of the existence of an institutional framework for the provision of market access, most of the information from major international sources such as the WTO, UNCTAD, the ITC and from import promotion agencies of developed countries, does not to Uganda’s producers and exporters of fish and horticultural products.

The public institutions responsible for market access information provision are highly centralised and bureaucratic. Many of these institutions such as the Uganda Export Promotion Board are located in Kampala and have no up-country offices or out-reach programmes. The information dissemination activities of these institutions are hampered by financial constraints. They therefore find it difficult to reach the rural areas where agriculture production, including horticulture, is undertaken. The situation results in considerable delays and transaction costs for producers and exporters seeking information.

The institutions responsible for generating and disseminating market access information in both the public and private sectors are not well coordinated.

Distortions occur in the information provided to the farmers and fisher folk due to the weak market access information chain. Women, in particular, suffer more than men from these distortions as the methods for information dissemination do not take into consideration the differences which exist between the different roles and needs of women and men. Women are not directly targeted by the relevant agencies and often have to obtain such information from their male colleagues or husbands.

The provision of market access information is irregular and often not provided on time. Therefore, production and exporting decisions are often not informed by the market realities. Horticultural and fish exporters are therefore often at a loss on what is required to meet quality and other standard measures of importing countries.