Trading Women's Health and Rights: Trade Liberalization and Reproductive Health in Developing Economies

Around the world, policymakers and civil society are debating how economic and trade policies shape public health. This edited collection adds a new dimension to this debate. It synthesizes research from a variety of disciplines to analyse how the liberalization of international trade affects reproductive health and rights. Case studies from Mexico, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Egypt illuminate how trade-related changes in women's employment influence their reproductive needs and capacities. The book demonstrates how global and national trade policies affect the quality, quantity, and cost of reproductive health services. Contributors also explore the implications of the World Trade Organization and the various trade agreements under its purview for reproductive health services and rights. Ultimately, this collection addresses the key policy issues for advocates of both reproductive health and rights and economic justice, and shows how trade agreements weighted against the poor in the South have very specific gendered consequences.

This book is aimed at an inter-disciplinary audience of economists, public health professionals, demographers, sociologists, anthropologists, and women's studies specialists. It will also be of interest to policymakers and representatives of civil society organizations working on health, economic justice, and employment issues.

Caren Grown is co-director of the Gender Equality and the Economy program at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College and formerly Director of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Governance Team at ICRW.

Anju Malhotra is group director of social and economic development at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).

Elissa Braunstein is an assistant professor of Economics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.