Journal Citation:
78 INDIANA LAW JOURNAL, 877-897 (2003)
The author contends that the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) offers an opportunity to improve the working conditions of women in the member nations. The author provides several counter-arguments to the position that labour standards should not be included within trade agreements, and outlines labour issues of particular relevance to women. She then provides an overview of the structure and procedures of the North American Free Trade Agreement's (NAFTA) side-agreement on labour standards (which came into effect in 1994), concluding that it offers inadequate remedies and fails to include some of women's key labour concerns. Based on the criticisms of NAFTA, the author provides several recommendations to enhance women's working conditions and strengthen the protection of labour rights under the FTAA.