"The report argues that NAFTA has done little to improve the U.S. government's realization of commitments to women's economic and social rights made at the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women. Ten years after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, U.S. women, in solidarity with their sisters in other parts of the world, are struggling to understand what gains were made in the area of the economy – not only for themselves, but for their families and their communities. In the United States, it is clear that the government has not lived up to its promises in Beijing. Despite advocacy from national women's, development, labor and human rights groups, since Beijing the United States has done little to incorporate a gender analysis into its macroeconomic policies and into decision-making processes, nor has it acknowledged that its trade policies are having a negative and disproportionate impact on women and children than they are men."

This publication is a joint effort of participants in the U.S. Gender and Trade Network (USGTN). It is a popular education tool on ""Women and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA)"" which includes analysis of the potential impacts of the FTAA from a gender perspective.This resource explores the impacts of privatization, deregulation, and NAFTA on services, investment, migration, militarization, labor, and agriculture and examines how this relates to regional integration in the Americas. This publication is available as a popular educational tool for activists with a particular focus on the U.S. experience.The resource booklet includes discussion questions and provides reference and background information that is useful in: (1) raising awareness among women and different communities across the U.S. about the impacts of free trade and the potential impacts of the FTAA and (2) mobilizing them to get involved in the debate and promote the common good through economic policymaking in the Americas.

This article examines the points of difference among the negotiators at the recent meeting of the FTAA.

"Following the Quito Ministerial that took place in Ecuador in November, 2002, a variety of non-governmental groups reported on the possibility that the FTAA might be under distress due to heated political differences amongst governments over the potential losses, particularly in the area of agriculture. Five months later, it is hard to say what is truly at play."

"The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a free trade agreement that is currently being negotiated among 34 economies in the Western Hemisphere. Representatives from North America, the Caribbean, Central America and South America are working to achieve the largest regional integration ever between developed and developing countries, with the goal of liberalizing trade and investment in goods and services by the year 2005. There is speculation that negotiations will be completed as early as 2004."

"We, the women of the International Gender and Trade Network, come together at the Second Peoples' Summit in Quebec City to say 'NO' to a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that threatens to marginalize women and our human rights."

"In order to achieve a shared and just vision for trade in the Western Hemisphere, FTAA governments must work with civil society to identify the issues that are at stake as well as the structures and procedures for communication and policymaking that should be in place. In addition, civil society groups must continue to strengthen their voice through social movement building, so that governments are held accountable for their actions. If all of these occur, it just may be possible to ensure that social development is at the core of trade and investment policymaking."