Inclusion of gender and labour standards in preferential trade agreements: evidence from North American and Canada-Chile agreements

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the causes of the incorporation of gender provisions into preferential trade agreements (PTAs), based an analysis of the reasons for the inclusion of both labour and gender provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and in the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). Drawing upon feminist and constructivist analysis, it argues for the importance of ideational factors such as policy emulation, social learning, the formation of transnational advocacy networks (TANs), as well as the role of Global South actors. Gender provisions often contain neoliberal elements that promote female entrepreneurship rather than more transformational approaches. The comparison of the USMCA and the CCFTA shows that the inclusion of stronger gender provisions in labour chapters (as in the USMCA) may be a more effective way to promote the interests of vulnerable workers than the inclusion of a gender chapter.