Gender, Work and the NAFTA Labour Side Agreement

This article assesses the North American Agreement on Labour Conditions (NAALC) in terms of its ability to address the equality and labour rights of working women in the member nations (Canada, the United States, and Mexico). Despite earlier optimism, the author notes a number of structural and substantive flaws that limit the potential of the NAALC to provide remedies to women workers. She discusses the ways in which the NAALC may nevertheless be used as a tool for women to publicize their working conditions and labour concerns, as well as a mechanism to develop transnational norms and cross-border solidarities.