The HSA Women’s Committee - Who are we?

We are an informal group of women who have formed a committee within the Hemispheric Social Alliance to ensure that women’s concerns are central to the larger vision of the Alliance. Women activists have been engaged in the HSA since its inception. We are deeply critical of the negative impacts that trade and investment policies are having on women in the region and are striving for change.

We are mothers. We are sisters. We are community leaders. We are interested individuals. We are colleagues. We are activists that believe that another Americas is possible when we work in solidarity.

The HSA Women’s Committee is committed to ensuring that women’s issues play a critical role and be integrated in the work of HSA. The Committee hopes to energize women in the region by sharing our activities, identifying new opportunities for joint analysis and providing a presence in key meetings.

The everyday working of the Committee is largely unfunded. It’s not a formal organization; it’s a political space to foment discussions, to criticize, to exchange experience, to promote the communication among the participating groups and others objectives.

In its last meeting in Quito, on July/2004, the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC) accepted to coordinate and facilitate the communication of the Committee. Here follow other networks that integrate the Committee:

- International Gender and Trade Network – IGTN
- Latin-American Women Economy Network – REMTE
- Brazilian Network for the People’s Integration – REBRIP
- World March of Women
- Common Frontiers
- Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action – CAFRA

Some other organizations:
- Solon Foundation (Bolivia)
- CEP-Alforja (Costa Rica)
- Las Dignas (El Salvador)
- Humboldt Center (Nicaragua)
- Women Economy Network (Peru)
- Economic Research Center for Caribbean – CIECA (Dominican Republic)

Labor:
- Canadian Labor Congress
- Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers – ORIT
- AFL-CIO

Our History

In 1998, the Women’s Committee co-sponsored a women’s forum at the 1st Peoples Summit of the Americas which was sponsored by the HSA and held in Santiago, Chile parallel to the official FTAA trade talks. Women from various countries gathered to challenge the patriarchy that is linked to the differential negative impacts of trade and investment that women are experiencing.

In 2001, the Committee co-organized another women’s forum at the second People’s Summit in Quebec City, Canada which also took place parallel to the official ministers’ meeting. Women from the region offered their personal testimonies to address the specific impacts that trade and investment policies are having on their lives. A woman from the Windward Islands talked about the loss of livelihoods for women banana producers as a result of WTO rulings. A woman from Mexico talked about the violence stemming from the maquiladora factories in Mexico where women are regularly beaten, raped and sometimes murdered. An indigenous woman from the Andean region shared her experience with land displacement, discrimination and cultural identity becoming a commodity to be bought and sold. A woman from the inner city in the U.S. talked about her social and economic marginalization as a woman of color within the worlds’ richest country in the world.

One major outcome from the Quebec women’s forum was a renewed commitment for women in the Alliance to keep working together. A bilingual listserv in English and Spanish was formed to facilitate communication. Additionally, women across the Americas contributed to the publication of a gender chapter in the Alternatives of the Americas document of the HSA. The Committee has worked to upgrade it as our analysis improves over time.

In August 2002, the Women’s Committee held its first strategic planning meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The major agreed upon principles and commitments of the Women’s Committee of the HAS stemming from this 2002 meeting are included directly below:

• Vision and critical analysis of the FTAA
• No to the FTAA
• Empowerment of women to fight neo-liberal processes.
• Empower the women of the Hemispheric Social Alliance
• Creation of alternatives from a gender perspective
• Strategies for advocacy and mobilization
• Proposals to the Hemispheric Social Alliance to create strategies around the bilateral accords
• Recognition of the contribution of feminist thought as key analysis and commitment to challenge gender inequalities.

Since 2002, in conjunction with the larger HSA, the Women’s Committee has expanded it focus to include multilateral, sub-regional and bilateral negotiations within its purview.

Our Objective

The HSA Women’s Committee is continuing to build on past achievements by becoming stronger as individual women, networks, organizations, campaigns and grassroots groups who are collectively striving for change. Through a semi-regular bilingual bulletin, we will highlight meetings, research and work that women are doing nationally and regionally on issues such as the FTAA, CAFTA and other bilateral agreements-as well as key issues of concern such as access to essential services, debt, militarization, and violence which are inextricably linked to the free trade model in the Americas region. Through our representation in the HSA operating committee, we are strengthening the larger Alliance. And, we are generating joint research and advocacy where possible.

What have we achieved so far?

- 1998 - Women’s Forum at the 1st HSA Peoples Summit in Santiago de Chile
- 2001 - Women’s Forum in the 2nd HSA Peoples Summit in Quebec, Canada
- 2002 - Completed the gender chapter of the “Alternatives for the Americas” (this was updated in December 2002).
- 2002 - HSA Women’s Committee strategic planning meeting in the Dominican Republic
- 2002 – Organized workshops and participated in the HSA meetings in Quito during the FTAA ministers’ meeting
- 2003 - Organized workshops and participated in the HSA meetings in Miami, Florida during the FTAA ministers’ meeting. Published a declaration against the FTAA in English and Spanish which was disseminated broadly.
- 2004 - Participated in the planning meeting sponsored by the Continental Campaign against the FTAA and the HSA in Havana, Cuba.
- 2004 – Published two case studies on water from Bolivia and Brazil as part of a joint project with Heinrich Boell Foundation.