Trade liberalization is generally assumed to be a gender-neutral process that increases overall prosperity and is best advanced when stripped of all social and institutional baggage. Yet trade frequently increases or exacerbates structural gender inequalities between women and men in household economies and in local and transnational labour markets. The European Union (EU) purports a different model of economic integration based on the harmonization of institutional, ostensibly ‘non-market’ rules and norms among Member States. This approach to economic integration opens a crucial political opportunity for gender-equal development advocates not seen in other multilateral trade organizations. Nascent EU institutional mechanisms could be strengthened to promote gender-sensitive trade policy and address gender inequalities resulting from free trade agreements (FTAs) with developing country partners. The ‘Global Europe’ competitiveness-oriented trade agenda, however, works against this potential for the EU’s internal model of economic integration with social standards to reshape globalization.
European Foreign Affairs Review