Gender-responsiveness gets a boost in India-UK FTA

With the recently signed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between India and the United Kingdom, India has for the first time signed up to a detailed chapter on trade and gender equality, besides a clear assertion in the preamble to "increasing women's access to and ability to fully benefit from the opportunities created by this Agreement." And gender experts are cheering.

- SANJANA JOSHI AND NIRLIPTA RATH

Prior to this, only the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022 had a mention in the chapter on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises about strengthening bilateral collaboration on activities to promote SMEs owned by women and youth, as well as startups; promote partnerships among these SMEs and their participation in international trade, and exchange of information on entrepreneurship education and awareness programmes for youth and women to promote the entrepreneurial environment.

India has been an active supporter of gender equality at the international level — it ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979; it is a signatory to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in 1995 in support of women's empowerment; and is also strongly committed to the achievement of Goal 5 of the UN's 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that aims to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

Further, India supports the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (2015) which recognises the importance of international trade as an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction and specifically underlines the role it can play in promoting women's empowerment.

However, traditionally India has been cautious about linking so-called 'non-trade/progressive issues' such as human rights, labour standards, gender, and environment with international trade, both bilaterally and multilaterally, by and large regarding them as 'veiled protectionism'. For example, India voted against the "Joint Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment" issued at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in December 2017. The Buenos Aires declaration is currently supported by 127 WTO members and observers.