Empowerment or exploitation? The false promise of a women-inclusive trade deal
The Canada-Indonesia trade deal’s “women-inclusive” label masks a neoliberal agenda that benefits Canadian corporations more than Indonesian women. It exploits feminist language to legitimize market expansion, while reinforcing structural inequalities—especially the burden of unpaid care work on women—and enabling corporate power through costly investor rights (ISDS). True gender justice requires systemic change, not just market inclusion.