WTO Membership and Nepalese Women

Shiv Raj Bhatt and Ekta Bhattarai
Background
Nepal is a landlocked country situated between two emerging economic powers--the People's Republic of China and India. A least developed country (LDC), Nepal is home to nearly 24 million people, among which nearly 90 percent depend on rural-based activities for their livelihood. Women constitute half of Nepal's population and a visible majority of the poor. Despite significant socioeconomic achievements in the past decades under a planned development effort, women are still lagging behind their male counterparts. In fact, the development that took place in the country over five decades has not improved the lives of many disadvantaged groups, including ethnic minorities and women. Dissatisfaction and anger of the excluded resulted in political unrest. Today, Nepal faces problems generating economic growth because of political instability and the ongoing Maoist insurgency that began in 1996.

Despite the critical situation, Nepal acceded to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 23 April 2004. It is believed that global integration of the economy through WTO membership is essential for expanding trade opportunities, facilitating competition, absorbing knowledge and thereby creating opportunities for growth and pursuing overall development goals. However, it may benefit a few, leaving the majority worse off unless the government takes an active role in managing and shaping it. Therefore, trade liberalisation, in general, and Nepal's accession to the WTO, in particular, could also have mixed consequences. Trade liberalisation, particularly through WTO membership, might help to expand trade but does not necessarily guarantee immediate or even longer-term economic and human development (UNDP, 2003). Factors such as internal and external institutions and social and policy preconditions largely determine to what extent the country and the people benefit from trade.1

The mainstream trade theory holds the view that production specialisation according to each nation's comparative advantage typically leads to a more efficient allocation of resources in the world economy and consequently to higher levels of output and growth in all countries. Accelerated growth, in turn, will promote national development and reduce poverty. Therefore, expanding global trade is beneficial to all countries and their citizens. However, economists working on gender and trade, investigating the complex relationship between gender inequalities and trade liberalisation find that trade liberalisation has had mixed results for gender outcomes (Cagatay, 2001; SAWTEE, 2003 and UNDP, 2003).

In this context, Nepal's membership to the WTO may also produce mixed outcomes, especially for women. Therefore, to overcome the challenges and reap the benefits of membership, Nepal needs to assess the implications of WTO membership in different sectors of economy and society, which in turn help to formulate and implement appropriate policy measures to fulfill the development needs of the country.

Trade-Gender Interlinks
The interrelationship between trade and development is debatable, but there is no doubt about the positive relationship between trade and growth. Trade as a powerful source of economic growth can be instrumental in poverty reduction and gender equality. But the link between trade and growth is not automatic and expanding trade cannot guarantee poverty reduction or gender equality. Socioeconomic conditions, institutional arrangements, access over productive resources and many other factors largely determine whether and to what extent a country or a particular population groups benefits from trade.

Trade liberalisation has had mixed results for gender outcome, especially in LDCs where widespread gender discriminations prevail in economic life. General trade theory tells us that in the process of opening up to trade, labour abundant countries will experience job creation and the relative wage of unskilled labour will rise over time. This job creation will largely benefit women, since women dominate the labour intensive industries.2 Similarly, it is argued that because of increased competition in the local market due to a more open trade regime, companies can no longer afford to discriminate against women by paying a premium to male workers just because they are men. Recent studies have also shown that export-orientation in developing countries increases female employment primarily in the manufacturing sector and in semi-industrialised economies.3

Though trade liberalisation may benefit women in terms of employment, their 'comparative advantage' as workers lies in their lower wages and inferior working conditions. Indeed, much of women's trade related gains in employment have occurred in state-promoted export processing zones, which are exempted from local labour laws, and in the informal sector, where work is characterised by long hours, insecure employment, unhealthy conditions, low wages and often, sexual harassment (SAWTEE, 2003). Even when traditional export crop production increases, the situation would further deteriorate because of the lack of women ownership of resources. Similarly, trade reform tends to benefit large and medium producers, since small farmers, especially women, often lack access to credit, new technologies, marketing know-how and the like needed to take advantage of new markets (Cagatay, 2001).

In most countries, women work longer hours than men, yet are paid less because a bulk of their work consists of domestic duties, and they are more likely to live in poverty. Moreover, in predominately agricultural economies, lack of access to resources (i.e. land, credit and knowledge) "not only hinder the ability of women to take advantage of new opportunities created by trade liberalization, but also constrain the output response and the export capacity of the whole economy. Gender inequalities in education, health and access to farm inputs often dampen output, productivity and growth rates, and thus hinder export production" (Cagatay, 2001). Therefore, in order to combat these problems, women need to gain: knowledge of a country's laws and regulations; access to resources, such as credit and education/vocational training; and access to agricultural technology. There is a possibility that the well being of women and children may not improve if steps are not taken to eradicate these problems. If the increase in family income is accompanied by a decrease in food crop production, the family nutritional intake might suffer while women's work burden increases.

WTO membership may be instrumental in promoting human development and gender equity if it facilitates the process of equitable broad-based growth, creates employment opportunities especially for women and the poor, broadens production and export base, and facilitates transfer of technology and human resources development. Nonetheless, proper policy interventions are needed to materialise the benefits of membership; otherwise it may create unfavorable conditions for women, widen gender disparities, and negatively influence the process of gender empowerment.

A study conducted by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) on gender implications of Nepal's accession to the WTO reveals that trade liberalisation has both positive (basically though expanding self-employment opportunities, job creation and deregulation) and negative (mainly due to exploitation, lack of education and technical barriers to trade) implications for women.4

Against this background of socioeconomic differences between men and women in Nepal, it can be said that the outcome and impact of WTO membership on men and women would be different. Trade liberalization, accompanied by passive economic policy may fail to expand human choices and contribute to increasing income and gender inequalities. Governments can influence how trade liberalisation affects a woman's well being.5 Therefore, it is imperative to implement active policy interventions rather than passively wait for the markets to deliver automatic benefits if the opportunities of WTO membership are to be translated into tangible, widespread, long lasting and equitable benefits for the people of Nepal.

Status of Women in Nepal
In Nepal, the status of women has improved in the past few decades, especially in the areas of education, employment and health.6 In 1981, only 12 percent of the females in Nepal were literate. In 2003/04, the NPC estimated the rate to be 33.8 percent (Nepal Living Standard Survey, henceforth NLSS). In terms of employment, the female participation rate in Nepal's labour force is higher than South Asia's average41 percent of Nepali women, whereas only 33 percent of all South Asian women were employed as of the year 2000. The statistics for the health sector are promising as well; the fertility rate has decreased--in 1980, the average number of children per mother was 6.1; in 2003/04, that average was down to 3.6. The contraceptive prevalence rate for women ages 15 to 49 increased--in 1980 it was 7 percent and in 2000, the rate was at 39 percent. On a depressing note, the maternal mortality ratio in Nepal is the highest in the world53.9 for 10,000 live births.7 Even though Nepal has seen some positive trends in the above areas, there is plenty of room for improvement and the country has a long way to go to eliminate poverty and gain gender equality.

Although the country has graduated from low to medium human development status, the level of human development in Nepal is still quite low and it also has very low levels of attainment in individual indicators of human development, such as income, life expectancy, literacy and gender equity. The Gender-related Development Index (GDI) for Nepal has a score of 0.484 against the HDI score of 0.504. The ratio, GDI/HDI percentage is 96.03, which suggests that the depth of gender disparity in opportunity is not very high. However, the GDI for rural areas (0.452) is significantly lower than that of urban areas (0.581). The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) score for Nepal--0.39--1indicates that women are far less empowered than men in political, economic and professional domains. Women's share of earned income is about one-half of that of men while their participation in the political process is only one-fourth that of men. The gap is even wider in terms of participation in professional and administrative jobs. In addition, women in rural areas are much less empowered than those in the urban areas. Though the progress in GDI and GEM over the period 1996-2001 has been relatively satisfactory, it is still low and much effort is needed to uplift the status of women.

Statistics
The government acknowledges that gender equality is the most important source for combating poverty. Although women play a large role in Nepal's economic sphere, their domestic work, as well as the agricultural work they do is not considered in the national income estimation.8 Their input in agriculture is ignored because most women participate in subsistence farming.

The table above shows that women fill only 5.85 percent of the House of Representative (Lower House) seats, 13.33 percent of the seats in the Rashtriya Sabha (Upper House) and women take on only 5.5 percent of ministerial positions in the national government. Also, only 8.55 percent of women participate in civil service and only 4 percent of women are at the policy formulation level. According to UNDP's NHDR 2004, only 19.33 percent of women participate in local elections. This data proves that very few women take on decision-making roles in the government. Much of this is due to the cultural restraints they face.

The facts and figures presented above show the low socioeconomic status of Nepalese women. Many factors determine this situation, including Nepal's highly patriarchal society, suppression, exploitation, illiteracy, ill health, poverty, orthodox traditions and a discriminatory legal system. The country has one of the highest indicators of son preference in the world.9 Boys not only pass on the family name, but also are thought to be the future caretakers of their parents. Thus, parents are far more likely to encourage their sons to study in the hope that they will obtain a respectable position in the workforce and be able to support their family. However, when it comes to educating their daughters, they are wary. Not only will educating them cost money and take time away from their household chores, whatever a girl gains through education is considered insignificant to her parents. It is felt that since the daughter ends up moving out of the house after marriage, she cannot be depended upon financially. So instead, mothers focus on training their unmarried daughters to take care of the household to prepare them for life after marriage.

Women in the Labour Market
In terms of work, women all over the world suffer from the effects of unemployment, job stereotyping, sexual harassment, wage disparity, reduced access to jobs and vocational training and have difficulties in moving up the ladder in the job force.

The majority of women in Nepal have to endure a “double burden” and sometimes even a “triple burden”. Not only do they serve as (1) economic agents and work outside of the home to bring in money, but also once they return home, they have to (2) handle household duties, such as cleaning and cooking, and some even have (3) childcare duties to attend to. The first form of work--paid employment--leads to positive effects on a woman's bargaining position within the household. However, the latter two forms of work are usually not accounted for and are considered to be 'feminised work'. Women are looked at as being primarily responsible in the reproductive sector (Acharya, 2003).

The NLFS categorises labour into three categories--paid, unpaid, and self-employed. According to the NLFS 1998 survey, of the total female labour force, 7.7 percent women are paid regularly, 28.9 percent are self-employed, and a staggering 63.4 percent are involved in unpaid work. Only 1.99 percent of the total female labour force participates in the non-agriculture formal sector. This is highly unfortunate, because in this sector, workers not only receive a regular wage, but other benefits as well. 12.80 percent women participate in the non-agriculture informal sector, where they receive a daily wage.

There is very little gender-sensitive statistical data complied by the government, so it is difficult to properly measure women's contribution to the economy and the economically active population in the labour force. Much of the work women partake in does not get converted into monetary value.

WTO Membership: Opportunities for Women
On the basis of literature on the gender-trade interlink and status of women in Nepal, it can be assumed that Nepal's WTO membership produces mixed outcomes for women. Furthermore, the low economic and social status of women, their low level of representation in the decision-making process and their lack of ownership of productive resources hinder their ability to reap the benefits of membership. On the other hand, negative implications are automatic. Many experts maintain that WTO is gender-neutral, while others claim it is gender-blind.

The WTO does not directly incorporate a gendered perspective in its trade policies, but virtually all WTO Member states have endorsed CEDAW, as well as the UN Beijing Platform for Women (1995), which states, "The Final Act of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations underscored the increasing interdependence of national economies, as well as the importance of trade liberalisation and access to open, dynamic markets…Therefore, only a new era of international cooperation among Governments and peoples based on an equitable international, social and economic environment and a radial transformation of the relationship between men and women to an equal partnership will enable the world to meet the challenges of the 21st century."10 It is understood that in order for WTO Agreements to be beneficial to all, each Member state has to strive to promote gender equality if it wants to improve both economically and socially.

The following WTO Trade Agreements directly or indirectly affect women in Nepal the most.

Agreement on Agriculture (AOA)
The AOA requires WTO member states to work towards liberalising agriculture trade, thus promoting an export-driven economy. The AOA deals with three areas of commitment--increased market access; reduced domestic support for farmers; and export competition. The AOA specifies that member states must undertake specific binding commitments in these areas. The introduction to the AOA maintains that the long-term objective of the WTO is to “establish a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system and that a reform process should be initiated through the negotiation of commitments on support and protection and through the establishment of strengthened and more operationally effective GATT rules and disciplines.” The goal is to prevent “restrictions and distortions” in the world agricultural markets by ensuring that developed countries do not control the market. The introduction also notes that “commitments under the reform programme should be made in an equitable way among all Members, having regard to non-trade concerns, including food security and the need to protect the environment…and taking into account the possible negative effects of the implementation of the reform programme on least-developed and net food-importing developing countries.” According to Article 15 of the AOA, S&D treatment is accorded to developing country members--they have the flexibility to implement reduction commitments over a period of up to 10 years. LDC members, on the other hand, are not required to carry out reduction commitments.
The Agreement affects men and women differently due to existing gender inequalities concerning access to resources and decision-making power. There is a gender divide in terms of agricultural labour--the majority of women farmers in Nepal and other developing countries participate in subsistence agriculture and the work they do is considered to be 'reproductive'. Men are responsible for producing export crops; hence they have a 'productive' role in the agriculture sector. However, increasingly men are migrating to cities in search of more substantial jobs. As a result, the number of female-headed households is increasing on a global level. Women are forced to take on more responsibilities, including producing cash crops and becoming involved in food processing, to provide for the family. This affects the agriculture industry in many ways--traditional foods are becoming less economical to produce; the global market is vulnerable to the overall changes; there is a decline in rural incomes; there is more input-intensive commercial agriculture; and productive resources are increasingly being controlled by agribusiness.11

The high subsidies that developed countries grant to their farmers are harmful to developing countries--it weakens the market price of agricultural products. Therefore, the Agreement creates inequalities between the developed countries that are able to grant subsidies to their farmers and the developing countries and LDCs, who do not have the capital to provide such a benefit.
Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC)
The GATT's Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA), and its successor, the WTO's ATC, included a quota system. This was beneficial to countries that could not compete with industrialised nations. The quota system led to the establishment of large garment and textile industries all over Asia, creating millions of jobs in the process. On January 1, 2005, the ATC expired, so the quota system was abolished. Today, regulations for textiles and clothing follow regular WTO protocol. The liberalisation of the textile and clothing sectors may pose problems for LDCs, in general, and women, in particular. The abolished quota system hit countries like Nepal the hardest, where factories are less efficient. The industries in Nepal are slowly dying due to products imported by more competitive countries, i.e. China, India, Thailand, and Mexico. Women workers in the garment and textile industry are often the main household income earners. Hafiz Pasha (2004), of the UN, declares that for countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the end of the quota system will lead to: an increase in unemployment through factory shutdowns; an increase in competition, which leads to lower prices; an increased demand for shorter lead times and higher quality clothing; and a simultaneous decrease in wages and increase in working hours--meaning worse working conditions for those who are able to keep their jobs.

The impact of quota eliminations for women is mixed. For example, the phasing out of MFA in India brought about a substantial rise in female employment. However, elsewhere, it is possible that when labor cuts are required, women will be the first to be let go.16 This is problematic, because the chances of women securing alternative employment are relatively low. These potential negative implications for women working in the textiles and clothing sector, need to be taken into account by the government. Hafiz Pasha insists, "Competitiveness should not mean lowering wages or increasing working hours, but should instead translate into improved labour productivity. This requires upgrading skills to make them more compatible with the needs of buyers in international markets." Therefore, Nepal needs to implement training programs for women so they can upgrade their skillsthe low-skilled women (those who concentrate on sewing and putting together pieces) are usually the first to be fired. Nepali manufacturers need to modernise their factories and buy new technologies (and train both women and men how to use them). Their products will be upgraded and they will not lose out to other South Asian countries.

Nepal is granted the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), a form of positive discrimination which is a under the WTO, due to her status as an LDC. The GSP offers unilateral tariff concessions, including duty-free status. Canada, the European Union (EU), Australia, Japan and Russia are providing this. In order to increase its exports to these countries, Nepal needs to strengthen its capacity as a trading partner. Members can withdraw GSP without any justification, but the EU has promised grant GSP to Nepal until the end of 2006. The EU, through its Everything-But-Arms Initiative, also grants Nepal duty-free status for all products, including RMGs, under the GSP. This gives Nepal a transition period and allows for increasing exports of RMGs to EU countries. One unfortunate matter in relation to GSP given to Nepal by the United States is that RMGs are not included; the majority of RMG exports during the quota system went to the United States.

Even though exports of RMGs to the United States have declined by 52 percent from the years 2000 to 2004, the US is still the largest buyer of RMGs from Nepal. However, the garment industry should also focus on exporting goods to EU countries, especially because Nepal is granted duty-free status. In 2004, only 18 percent of RMGs were exported to various EU countries. The garment industries need to make maximum use of the preferential benefit they're given by the EU due to Nepal's status as a LDC. Developing contacts in the EU countries is essential to gaining market access.

In the long run, there may not be such a negative effect of quota eliminations. Many buyers have become comfortable buying from certain countries, and these countries have realized their forte. Building strong relationships with buyers is invaluable. For example, Sri Lanka is well known for its lingerie and Victoria's Secret's depends upon Sri Lanka for a bulk of their goods. A Goldman Sachs survey found that 86 percent of European buyers and all the American buyers were negotiating price cuts. Unfortunately, the same study also found that buyers expect to buy from fewer countries than before which is bad news for less competitive markets like Nepal.17
At this time, one can only speculate how the quota elimination will affect women in the textile and clothing industries of less competitive countries.

General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
WTO Member states, under GATS, are required to gradually liberalise their service sectors. However, each member state makes individual commitments in which it lists the sectors that it wishes to open up to international competition, as well as the percentage of openness it wishes to establish, keeping in mind their domestic interests. Industries that fall into this category include hotels, banks, institutions for education and health, insurance agencies, telecommunication companies, etc. Nepal is committed to opening up 37 major sectors and sub sectors and allows up to 80 percent of foreign direct investment (FDI).22

According to the GATS (Article 1), there are four modes of trade in services: Mode 1 consists of cross-border trade; Mode 2 refers to consumption abroad; Mode 3 consists of the commercial presence; and Mode 4, which is thought to be most beneficial, refers to the movement of natural persons who supply services from one country to another. Among these Modes, Fourth Mode is the most gender sensitive; therefore focused in this paper.

Women comprise a significant share of the international labour movement. This is due to the changing labour requirements in foreign countries. An increasing number of women are looking for better work opportunities and are willing to move abroad for a few years to make a living--working as either skilled or unskilled laborers. According to World Bank data, women's participation in international trade in services was 23 percent of a total of US$1.6 trillion of exports of services. In 2002, 1.3 million foreign-national temporary workers were admitted to the United States. The US has a quota of 65,000 specialty workers allowed in country per year, and that number is confirmed in US multilateral commitments under GATS. However, not taking into account the numerous undocumented workers, 370,000 specialty workers entered the country in 2002.23 Women are concentrated in mostly labour-intensive services. They are predominant in care and hospitality services and are also active as doctors, nurses, public health workers, teachers and social service workers. Agricultural and horticultural services have also become 'feminised'.

In Sri Lanka, 12 percent of the total labour force works outside the country. In 2002, the total number of Sri Lankan overseas workers was 970,000, 70 percent of whom were women. In a number of LDCs (eg. Bangladesh), statistics show that a significant number of women emigrate in search of better job opportunities.24 However, these women tend to occupy low-skilled jobs. People from developing countries willing to move abroad to work are attracted to the high salaries provided in developed countries, so south to north movement is most popular. South-south movements are quite significant as well, but are often under-recorded (i.e. Nepal-India movements).

Gender-specific benefits from women's participation in international trade in services include:25 (i) Women make a large contribution to remittances received by developing and least-developed countries. They are much more likely than men to save money and often send a larger proportion of their earnings back home to their families. In 2003 alone, US$93 billion in remittances were sent to developing countries, (ii) by providing women with employment opportunities abroad, the unemployment rate will decline, (iii) the knowledge and experience women receive abroad will assist them in gaining substantial work domestically. It will improve both their skill and educational levels, (iv) moving abroad does not require much capital--which is difficult for women to acquire, (v) women make their own money and become more highly valued both socially and economically and (vi) Mode 4 trade in services has contributed significantly to the reduction of gender-related wage disparities in home countries. For instance, when less skilled women leave their home country in search of temporary work in another country where they are offered higher wages, there is a likelihood of a pay raise for low-skilled workers.

In Nepal, there is a surplus of human resources. This forces women to emigrate in order to find employment and to be able to support their families. For example, nurses are in high demand in the United States, and the country imports nurses from India and the Philippines. The Philippines has been quite successful in providing overseas work for their nurses. Of the 26,500 foreign nurses who applied for US nurse licenses between 1997 and 2000, 36 percent were trained from the Philippines.26 Nursing has become a popular course of study in Nepal for women as well, so they should be provided opportunities to work abroad.

Conclusion
Trade liberalisation may have mixed results from a gender perspective. In terms of human development, liberalisation further affects women when export growth comes at the expense of exploiting female workers, neglecting care work and increasing gender inequalities in opportunities and benefits, (Cagatay, 2001). Although, especially in patriarchal societies, there is a notion of women being responsible for 'reproductive work' throughout the world, they should not become default providers of care for the elderly, sick and children. Nepal's membership in the rules-based trading regime can only be beneficial to the country if proper plans are implemented nationally to assist in the liberalisation process. The current national Five-Year Plan strives to integrate women into the national economy, and has proposed many strategies, which are meant to be compatible with WTO principles, to promote both economic growth and human development. The Tenth Plan is gender-sensitive promotes not only poverty alleviation, but also women's empowerment and gender mainstreaming. Nepal cannot properly develop until gender inequalities are destroyed. However, no matter how many strategies are proposed, unless they are fully implemented, they will be insignificant.

Policy Recommendations
There is need to eradicate the social and cultural values that disadvantage women. The participation of women in the labour sector is directly connected to the level of education, skills and opportunities they receive. The main goal for Nepal in relation to women's economic participation is to secure equal economic rights for women by increasing their employment opportunities, as well as their access, control and possession of resources. The government also needs to fill the gaps in labour laws to make them correlate with international labour standards (i.e. the International Labour Organisation). Female workers in the informal sector are being denied basic rights, such as minimum wage and safe working conditions. As Nepal's economy becomes more liberal, employment will rise, but it is likely that women will be placed in jobs in the informal sector.

Women should be encouraged to participate in all forms of government--from the grassroots to the national level. They should be encouraged to participate actively in the decision-making process to ensure that they are not devastated by economic liberalisation. The government also needs to ensure that women's work is not undervalued and under recorded. Nepal is lacking in terms of gender-sensitive data. The national accounting system needs to be improved so that a true assessment of women's contributions to the national economy can be formulated.

Other Sector-Specific Recommendations
Agriculture. To shield women from the negative effects of agriculture trade liberalization and to ensure that they benefit from its positive effects, it is imperative that they are given equal training opportunities. If women receive the same technical assistance their male counterparts get, they could switch to growing crops that yield higher returns, increase their productivity and create a better overall product, allowing them to compete fairly in the market. Women's participation in decision-making in agriculture needs to increase as well. Women should participate in community-based organisations/groups; by doing so, they can voice their opinions and ideas and advise each other on issues related to agriculture, credit, technology, etc. These gender issues have to be integrated into domestic agriculture policies. Similarly, it is essential that women be allowed easier access to resources, especially credit. Women in Nepal are forced to turn to greedy moneylenders because they have no collateral to hand over to banks. If informal savings and credit programs, which offer low cost loans, are created in rural areas, women will benefit very much. Moreover, Nepal needs to promote small farm commercialism. The Agriculture Prospective Plan, which aims to help landless women and disadvantage groups, stresses the production of high value crops (i.e., horticulture, bee-keeping) and livestock. Both these crops require very little land. The government can do so by assisting in the development of self-reliance skills in both male and female farmers and in promoting organic farming, production of high value crops, as well as sustainable agriculture. This way, they cultivate not only export-oriented products, but food for their family as well. This will combat food insecurity issues. For Nepal to receive any benefits of WTO membership in relation to women and agriculture, the country has to make use of the S&D treatment provision under the AOA and the 'green box' exemptions from "aggregate limits on domestic supports in such areas as extension services, stockholdings for food security, domestic food aid and disaster relief."27 In order for women farmers to compete in international markets and make revenue, a reduction or removal of agriculture subsidies by developed countries is the best solution.

Garments. Nepal's garment industry is dependent on imported fabrics. The development of backward linkages would reduce costs and provide more opportunities for the domestic textile industry as well. Studies have shown that as much as 60 percent of the cost of production of garments in Nepal is composed of imported material. In the long run, by becoming less dependent on imported materials and encouraging the use of domestic raw materials, this industry is more likely to become competitive. The government should motivate Chinese and Indian companies to set up joint ventures in Nepal. The Chinese and Indians will bring in not only capital, but new technologies as well. Nepal, as an LDC, gets preferential market access from the EU and the US. In addition, investment in training programs for women so they can upgrade their skills and create a higher quality product is desirable. Promotion of the Nepali fashion industry, which would focus on unique designer products, is necessary.

Services. Initiatives directed at attracting FDI do not control the market and negatively impact local service suppliers, especially the businesses owned by women. This would not only lead to a rise in unemployment, but force women to move abroad for work, where they, unless they are able to secure professional jobs, are placed in positions that require little or no skill and receive lower pay in comparison to men. Gender-sensitive employment and pay equity legislation is in place--applicable to both national and foreign service suppliers.

References
Acharya, Meena, Efforts at Promotion of Women in Nepal. Tanka Prasad Acharya Foundation, 2003.
Cagatay, Nilufer. "Engendering Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policy", UNDP, 1998.
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End Notes
1. Rodrik, Dani, "The Global Governance of Trade: As If Development Really Mattered", 2001, as quoted in UNDP, 2003.
2. Nordas H.K., Is Trade Liberalization a Window of Opportunity for Women? WTO, Economic Research and Statistics Division, 2003.
3. Cagatay, Nilufer, Trade, Gender and Poverty, p.23-24.
4. SAWTEE, "A Study on Gender Implications of Nepal's Accession to the WTO", March 2003. This study focuses on the tourism and carpet sectors of Nepal.
5. UNDP, Making Global Trade Work for People, Earthscan Publications Ltd., 2003.
6. Ministry of Women Children and Social Welfare, HMG-N, National Plan of Action on CEDAW, 2004.
7. Data taken from: National Planning Commission, HMG-N, The Tenth Plan; UNDP, Nepal Human Development Report 2004; and World Bank," Database for Gender Statistics", www.worldbank.org.np.
8. National Planning Commission, HMG-N, The Ninth Plan (1997-2002) and The Tenth Plan (2002-2007), Kathmandu, Nepal.
9. UNDP, Nepal Human Development Report 2004, p.51.
10. "Fourth World Conference on Women Platform for Action" http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/plat1.htm
11. Ibid, p.82
12. Randriamaro, 2002.
13. Quoted from "PANNA: WTO Agreement on Agriculture Harms Small Farmers", April 8, 2002.
14. website: www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20020408.dv.html
15. Ibid.
16. Conclusions from an FAO study on small farm commercialization in 14 developing countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. China, India, Pakistan, Cambodia and Myanmar were the Asian countries surveyed. Look at UNCTAD, "Trade and Gender," Chapter 3, p.109 for more information.
17. UNCTAD, 2004.
18. The Economist, November 11, 2004.
19. UNCTAD, 2004, p.150.
20. Estimated by the IMF; Quoted by The Economist, November 11, 2004.
21. UNCTAD, 2004.
22. Information on this UNIFEM study of 2003 can be found in UNCTAD, 2004, p.370.
23. For more detail see Nepal's Schedule of Specific Commitments in Services.
24. UNCTAD, 2004, Chapter 7.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. The data comes from UNCTAD, 2004, Chapter 7.
28. UNCTAD, "Trade and Gender," Chapter 9, p.307