Helen Rupp

Agricultural Trade Liberalization and Gender: a Case Study on Small Farmers in El Salvador Facing Cafta Helen Rupp

El Salvador s economy, which until the 1980s was based on agriculture, has in recent years come to depend upon remittances sent in by its emigrants. CAFTA, the free trade agreement between Central American countries and the United States that came into effect in 2005, can be considered the culmination of the process of deep economic restructuring El Salvador has undergone. The opening of its agricultural markets is expected to give rise to an increase in imports of basic grains, which is the mainstay of many small farmers in El Salvador. In Agricultural Trade Liberalization and Gender the author Helen Rupp analyzes the recent economic and social transformations in El Salvador from a gender perspective. The question of whether the opening of the agricultural sector will enhance or worsen gender equity is linked to the broader issue of potential benefits or losses from liberalizing the agricultural trade system for small farmers. The study combines an overview on the economic and social development in El Salvador since 1989 with own empiric findings. It represents a valuable contribution to the discussion on transformations of gender regimes in the context of globalization processes.