Women take On the WTO

“Women take on the WTO” forum drew a diverse, attentive and mixed gender crowd.  Several Japanese attended from the activist groups ATAAC Japan and “Rice is Life”, who participated in discussion along with others from India, United States, and Indonesia.  Several vital issues surrounding women were discussed; women suffer most from water/food loss and they bear a tremendous responsibility in the survival of their children under impoverished conditions. 

Panelists included: Dr. Ursula Oswald Spring of Mexico City, India’s own Dr. Mira Shiva of HAI (Health Action International) and IPHC, Professor Jean Grossholtz from Mt. Holyoke College USA, Dale Wen (a recent representative of Diverse Women for Diversity in China), Maria Zuniga founder of IPHC (International Peoples Health Council) in Nicaragua, and guest speaker Dana Lee Hoff from the Via Campesinia peasant movement born out of SE Mexico.

Initially touching on the fall of women into prostitution, Dale talked about the fact women migrate to cities after their rural land is destroyed (water sources, food cultivating capabilities), the lack of employment opportunities in the cities channel desperate women into prostitution, sex slave rings and sweatshops.  Dale from China was speechless, shaking her head, after she said, “6 million women in China are now in prostitution; in 1972 (socialist China) there were zero”.

The movement Via Campesinia, which Dr. Ursula Oswald and Dana are involved in, works to educate women on their rights to defend their land, food, water and therefore combat land loss and forced migration.  It was mentioned that many more women from Via Campesinia were to come to Hong Kong to join in the anti-WTO rallies however they could not get Visas.

Dale from China informed that, 100-200 mil women migrant workers are in Chinese cities (from the rural areas).  All the panelists shared particular data as to the fact, on average these migrant women save and send home significantly more money earned then migrant men:  women take a huge responsibility in caring for family, children.  In Mexico this year 20 billion was generated from women migrant labor and in Bangladesh it makes up 25% of the GDP. 

Dr. Ursula Oswald also touched on the fact only 18% of women in Mexico own land, yet over 80% of women are responsible for food products.  Dale Wen from China further emphasized the oppression of women in China, saying they are taken out of school early being traditionally less revered then males.  A flight attendant from US Airways, Becky, attending the panel, shared, “on any given day there will be around 20 Chinese baby girls flying to the US with adoptive parents”.

In particular Dale shared the downfall on China’s health system: in 2000 85% of rural women were covered by health care, now in 2005 only 10-20% are covered.   Life expectancy in rural areas has dropped to 66 years (lower than the National average 25 years ago).  Additionally, the IMR (infant mortality rate) is higher for baby girls. 

The effects of Multinational Globalization has hit China hard: 15 mil manufacture jobs were lost in 2002, 2003.  China makes up two-thirds of the job loss in the world.  60% of those laid of workers are women.  But Dale also said women are fighting back more than men, through local rural communities groups such as “Mothers for Environment” (collect rain water, make bio-digesters).

On a positive note, women have joined cooperatives, they work to save seeds (i.e. Navdanya foundation in India) and are encouraged to “add value” to raw food, transforming it (example rice to rice cakes) then selling it; this means food sources are used for the local community and the maker gets more money then trying to sell raw product (product prices are driven down from trade liberalization and mass multinational industrial agriculture).

Maria Zuniga, from Nicaragua, encouraged people to remember, perpetuate local history and she highlighted the destruction of Nicaragua’s economy in 1990 when the US helped to overthrow the Sandinista government (in order to install a pro-capitalist, trade friendly government): education was cut, loans to farmers were cut, half a million Nicaraguans went to Costa Rica for work, and particularly violence toward women increased (frustration, stress of unemployment, poverty).  Maria said the biggest community movement is to combat violence toward women.

(At this point in the panel the sound of protesters on the street could be heard, “NO, NO WTO…. Women Resist WTO!”  How appropriate.)

The Sandinista government came to power in the revolution of 1979. Maria said, “Sandinista was supported by the vast majority of Nicaraguans… it supported women equality (employment, social arenas, land ownership) and offered free and universal health care…at one time one-third of the population was being educated”.  Yet the destruction of text, information of Sandinista by neo-liberals has resulted in 87% of Nicaraguans (under 25 years age) totally ignorant to the fact there was a 1979 revolution.  She urged people to transmit local history, oral history…and “to believe another world is possible”.

Rapping up the panel was Dr. Mira Shiva who positively ripped apart GATS and the WTO’s attempt to turn health care into a service of trade.  Particularly alarming is the commodification of health care from 1978 (when the Alma Ata Charter focused on comprehensive, primary care) to 2005 (with the WTO now wanting to control health care and put all the money into medical services, products, commodities).  Dr. Mira explained how reductionist thinking eliminates holistic health (physical, mental, spiritual, social caring for people). The poor, who cannot afford commodified health care, particularly suffer. 

In India “Extreme Poverty” (zed 59.5) is increasing and the gap between rich and poor is wider, more dramatic.  Alongside poverty, all diseases (i.e. occupational, mental, physical), stress, violence, suicide, unemployment, migration and prostitution is also increasing.   Nutrition has deteriorated as well as post-labor mother health (i.e. anemia).

The increasing cost of health care is the second greatest cause of indebt ness, from loans and TRIPS (Intellectual property rights (i.e. patents) of corporations facilitated through the WTO) means poorer countries cannot afford the cost of medicines and cannot make cheaper generic ones.  There is a corporate monopoly control of medicine, which includes antiretroviral drugs (used for HIV/AIDS) and cancer drugs.  In addition, Dr. Mira Shiva added many people cannot afford to complete a full course of prescribed antibiotics, which leads to antibiotic resistance, hence harder to cure diseases.

The biopiracy of corporations controls both pharmaceutical and traditional medicines (i.e. Neem tree, turmeric spice from India, bitter gourd from Peru).  Alarmingly, the public does not know that the pharmaceutical companies write the drafts for the WTO agreements.  Mira ended her speech by saying, “Health ministers are absent, WTO trade ministers cannot determine public health, if they do (approve of GATS, TRIPS)”, Mira warned,  “public health will be much worse”.