Trading for Equality: The Use of Legal Harmonization Requirements in European Union Association Agreements to Further Gender Equality

Cassandra Allen*

With the rise of the sustainable trade movement, greater scrutiny has been placed on the disparate impacts that trade has on women. As a result, gender-sensitive trade policy has become increasingly common, with countries such as Canada, Uruguay, and Chile calling for independent gender-focused chapters in free trade agreements. While many gender provisions in trade agreements remain couched in aspirational language, the trend towards more detailed, concrete commitments suggests the need for a mechanism of enforcement to motivate adherence and accountability to these commitments.

This Note examines whether legal harmonization requirements are effective as a tool to enforce gender equality commitments in trade agreements. In particular, the piece focuses on the use of harmonization provisions in individual Association Agreements signed between the European Union and Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. The Agreements require the partner nations to harmonize domestic legislation with select European Union gender equality and antidiscrimination directives. The analysis finds that the harmonization requirements are only moderately successful in influencing the adoption of gender equality and antidiscrimination legislation. Nevertheless, legal harmonization may still play a valuable role in mainstreaming gender as a key part of trade negotiations, paving the way for gender-sensitive trade policy in years to come.

* J.D. Candidate, 2022, Colunbia Law School. Before expressing my sincerest thanks to those who made this Note possible, I would like to acknowledge the ongoing crisis occurring in Ukraine at the time of this publication. The senseless violence and profound loss of life was virtually unthinkable when this piece was initially drafted in the latter part of 2020 and early 2021. I join the international community in advocating for the perseverance of human rights and a peaceful end to this conflict. May the future which lies ahead be more peaceful and equal than the world we know today.

Returning to acknowledgements, I would like to thank Professor Charles Sabel of Columbia Law School for his supervision of this research and, especially, his insight into how gender equality fits into the larger scope of trade policy. Furthermore, I am very grateful to Professor Anu Bradford, Director of the European Legal Studies Center at Columbia Law School, for her feedback and guidance on European Union trade policy. I am also grateful to Brandon Fiscina, Volvi Taub, Liz White, and Robert Casty for their comments and meticulous editing. Finally, I thank my family for their love and support.