Editing Feminist economics (section)

===Free trade===
A central principle of mainstream economics is that [[trade]] can make everyone better off through [[comparative advantage]] and efficiency gains from specialization and greater efficiency.<ref name=manikiw>{{cite book|last=Mankiw|first=N. Gregory|author-link=Greg Mankiw|title=Principles of Economics|year=1997|publisher=Dryden Press|location=Fort Worth, TX|isbn=9780030982385 |url= https://archive.org/details/principlesofmicr00greg|url-access=registration|quote=comparative advantage.}}</ref><ref name="elson">{{cite book|last=Elson |first=Diane|author-link=Diane Elson|title=Feminist Economics of Trade|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-77059-0|pages=33–48|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkWUSDW244gC&q=Mainstream%2C%20Heterodox%20and%20Feminist%20Trade%20Theory&pg=PA33 |author2=Grown, Caren |author3=Cagatay, Nilufer |chapter=Mainstream, Heterodox and Feminist Trade Theory}}</ref> Many feminist economists question this claim. [[Diane Elson]], [[Caren Grown]] and [[Nilufer Cagatay]] explore the role that gender inequalities play in international trade and how such trade reshapes gender inequality itself. They and other feminist economists explore whose interests specific trade practices serve.

For example, they may highlight that in [[Africa]], specialization in the cultivation of a single [[cash crop]] for export in many countries made those countries extremely vulnerable to price fluctuations, weather patterns, and pests.<ref name="web" /> Feminist economists may also consider the specific gendered effects of trade-decisions. For instance, "in countries such as [[Kenya]], men generally controlled the earnings from cash crops while women were still expected to provide food and clothing for the household, their traditional role in the African family, along with labor to produce cash crops.  Thus women suffered significantly from the transition away from subsistence food production towards specialization and trade."<ref name="web" /> Similarly, since women often lack economic power as business owners, they are more likely to be hired as cheap labor, often involving them in exploitative situations.<ref name="elson"/> These examples highlight feminist economic theory's critique of the traditional economic theory.