By Charlotte Woods – former Sustainable Development in Practice masters student
As it stands, we live in a world where women do not share the same level of protections, treatment, or respect as their male counterparts. This unfair treatment is recognised globally as unacceptable witness goal 5 ‘Gender equality’ of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 and action must be taken to create a fairer world. In this blog we explore how Fairtrade is tackling the issue.
The Picture is taken from a Fairtrade Campaign. It reads ‘She Deserves a Living Income – Don’t feed exploitation, choose Fairtrade’.
First a bit of background on how Fairtrade works: it is a globally recognised set of standards which are geared towards supporting the sustainable development of small producers and agricultural workers in developing countries. The Fairtrade certification system ensures that producers comply with these standards to promote fairness and equality for all workers and to guarantee workers’ rights, safe working conditions and payment of a living wage.
Fairtrade is dedicated to providing woman and girls with more opportunities and skills to empower them in all aspects of life so that they can to thrive. One in five Fairtrade farmers are women, and nearly 50% of those working for other producers. With this reach, Fairtrade can be a really powerful tool in tackling gender discrimination.
For many years, the Fairtrade Foundation has implemented their own gender policy; as provided for in Principle 6, there is a commitment to gender equality and non-discrimination throughout the entire supply chain, making sure women and girls can participate equally and have access to all the Fairtrade benefits.
By incorporating the Fairtrade Premium as part of the conditions of achieving their accreditation, Fairtrade has provided an effective vehicle to support women. The premium is extra money paid on top of the selling price that farmers and workers can invest in development programmes of their choice to build for the future in their communities. The funds help to support welfare and development programmes such as education for woman in the latest technology and finance to enable girls to go to schools. In recent times, a greater priority is being given to woman to enable them to express their experiences and give them a platform to voice their desires and dreams. Putting woman at the centre of the conversation, Fairtrade emphasises the need to empower woman at all levels of their lives.
As a result, women in Fairtrade are challenging gender-based patterns and fighting for their right to ownership. For example, in 2014, 470 women overcame historic landownership constraints and became the first Indonesian all-woman coffee cooperative. For the first time this gave them independence and power over trading operations and income, rightfully, allowing them the opportunity to decide their future.
Crucially, these steps have given women the self-confidence, knowledge, and skills to stand up for themselves. They have set standards that can help influence other women around the world and influence future generations to take action.
While we are still a long way off, Fairtrade is allowing woman to be seen and heard and providing them with security and protection within work that will continue to make positive future changes.
To help make those changes purchase fairtrade products and support a positive change towards equality and sustainability. We must work together to continue this change.
For more information see https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/media-centre/blog/six-ways-fairtrade-is-empowering-women/