Assessing the Integration of Gender-Related Provisions in Free Trade Agreements: A Case Study of the East African Community (EAC)

Trade liberalization does not automatically translate into women's economic empowerment. For many years, policy makers have been overlooking the barriers, concerns and opportunities that women face in trade. They have been approaching trade as gender neutral domain. The oversight has been prolonging the existing inequalities in trade and limit the potential benefits of trade to women. One of the key instruments of trade is trade policies. However, most trade policies often fail to consider how they disproportional affect women’s participation in trade. My study examines the integration of gender related provisions in in East African Community Free Trade Agreements, highlighting both the progress made and the gaps that remain in promoting gender equality in trade. The paper explores the EAC’s free trade agreements (FTAs) from a gender dimension and asks the following research question: What are the specific provisions in EAC FTAs that explicitly refer to women’s concerns and how do these provisions reflect degree of commitment by the EAC member states in addressing women’s considerations in trade? A content textual analysis will be used to assess EAC trade agreements that are in place between 1992-2023. Gender-related keywords based on the existing literature on trade and gender will be utilized to assess the gender-responsiveness of an agreement, by identifying their frequency, context, content, language and location in the text. The results of my study show that the gender related provisions integrated in EAC trade agreements, are framed as aspirational rather than binding, reflecting a gap between policy intent and practical implementation. Moreover, the commitments lack enforceable mechanisms limiting their effectiveness. To address the identified gaps, the study recommends that the structure and wording of the provisions should be adjusted to make their implementation mandatory by the member states. Dispute settlement and Monitoring and Evaluations mechanisms should be established with resources allocated for implementing these provisions effectively. In addition, the study suggests that gender assessments should be conducted before introduction of new trade measures and during negotiations to ensure that women’s concerns in trade are fully captured.