It is International Women’s Day today, the 8th March 2022. Which has got us thinking about women and what fair trade does to champion them worldwide. The truth is that around the world, women are not treated equitably. This looks different from country to country and region to region, but the root problem is the same. Though women make up the majority of people producing food, they rarely receive their share of the benefits of their hard labour. 

“The truth is that the majority of the world’s poorest people are women. Globally, there are 700 million fewer women in paid work than men. Women that are earning are more likely to be in low-paid, insecure employment, and all too often, they are barred from controlling the income they do earn. It’s women, too, who disproportionately bear the burden of unpaid care work, and who face discrimination and exclusion on a daily basis.”

Traidcraft Exchange

However, when women are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to get involved in trade, they have the power to shape a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

The worldwide fair trade movement has developed a gender strategy that recognises that women’s empowerment and gender equality need to be promoted at all levels. There is special emphasis placed on training and development that empowers the women working in fair trade organisations.

Whatever their circumstances, which may be very different indeed, Fair Trade enterprises agree that best practice with regard to gender equity combines six core components:

• Education, awareness-raising and skills training for women, and for women and men together.
• Providing women (as well as men) with leadership opportunities at every level in the organisation, whether this is in a factory situation or in a less formal, rural, village setting as members and leaders of women’s groups.
• Giving women the chance to participate in decision-making in their organisations and communities.
• Providing equal pay for equal work; providing fair pay in all situations.
• Promoting Fair Trade in whatever way they can.
• Challenging entrenched stereo-types and traditional social norms.

Women have historically had less access to productive resources – so reinforcing patterns of female disempowerment. Fairtrade is helping to challenge this recurrent gender gap, enabling women to stake their claim and succeed on their own terms.

Here are some of our staff and volunteers showing the “W” hand sign for the #sheleadstheway movement, a bold call to action that stresses the idea that only through empowering women can we achieve a fairer world where gender equality and climate justice are at the core of every business.