THE KENYA-USA NEGOTIATIONS FOR A FREE TRADE AREA AGREEMENT: MAKING A CASE FOR A GENDER-RESPONSIVE APPROACH

Omolo Joseph Agutu

Abstract

Through free trade agreements, participating states aim to facilitate trade
among themselves by eliminating all barriers from their Free Trade Area’s
(FTA) internal trade. The extent to which a participating state derives and
distributes benefits from an FTA agreement necessarily depends on the nature and structure of its economy. Thus, the gender dimension of an economy must be one of the factors to be considered in any discussion on a
free trade agreement so as to ensure equitable and full participation of all
persons who fall in a country’s working age group. In doing this, some of the
questions that should be considered are: what is the gender profile of the
country’s economy and how does it affect men and women? What factors
(inhibitors and enablers) have contributed to the present gender profile of
the economy? What is the desired level of gender-inclusion in the economy
and how can it be achieved? And are there effective mechanisms under the
free trade agreement for enforcing the gender-inclusion goals? In seeking
to answer these questions, this article looks at the gender issues in the Kenya-USA FTA agreement negotiations.