Gender issues in the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement
IGTN | September 19, 2007
Gender issues in the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement
Natividad Y. Bernardino, IGTN Asia
Paper on Gender issues in the Japan-Phils Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). The bilateral agreement was signed last year and is now being debated in the Philippine Senate for ratification. Phil. civil society groups are actively campaigning against it for being highly-lopsided in favor of Japanese TNCs in exchange for miniscule Japanese Mode 4 commitments on the export of Filipina nurses to Japan.
Like all other bilaterals, it carries WTO plus commitments on investment and services. The paper examines JPEPA’s implications on women’s productive and social reproductive work, and uses the framework of international care chain/care drain in analyzing the migration of Filipina health professionals abroad.
