GEM: (7) How can international trade help the plight of women in countries that are developing economically and industrially?

Ms. Abzug: So far it hasn't been too helpful because, you see, the elimination of trade barriers in some instances has created jobs and so on, but in other instances it has created a free trade with no barriers and no commitments to women themselves or to labor. So it has its pluses and its minuses. In fact with the globalization of the economy, multinational corporations have been securing more power through such entities as the World Trade Organization or the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. They have essentially been engaging in structural programs which eliminate certain social activities of government in order to secure money for capital improvement, and it has been a big negative where women and poor people are concerned because their programs have been taken away from them. So we've been conducting a major struggle with the World Bank and other financial institutions to change their policies. And the World Trade Organization is like a total monopoly. They decide how much anything is going to cost. And they can determine--maybe they're employing more women, but they do it at a lower rate. There are tremendous problems in that. The trade issue is a very complex issue, and it is engaging many elements in a civil society in the struggle to get a voice in the World Trade Organization for elements in the civil society. Now only a few countries run that thing.

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