These women formed Arte Comasagua, an artisan group in El Salvador that we are proud to work with.
Poverty and gender inequality are main factors which cause women worldwide to lack employment opportunities and to struggle to support themselves without the aid of men. Engaging in trade can be especially difficult because in many societies it is considered inappropriate for women to take part in this type of work. Fair Trade promotes gender equality through imparting equal wages and providing women with economic opportunities. It also encourages women to take on leadership positions and to fully participate in discussion and decision making about business practices.
Fair Trade gives women the chance to provide for themselves and their families, which strengthens their position in society and gives them the resources and skills needed to take control of their lives and futures. Below are examples from around the world of women who have been empowered by Fair Trade and were able to create a better life for themselves.
Rwanda
Fair Trade USA featured a story on Hinga Kawa, a Women’s Association, which is part of the Abakunda Kawa cooperative and is comprised of a group of women who joined together as a community to sell their coffee. Many of these women are widows or orphans due to the genocide in their country, so they hold many responsibilities at home as well as at work in the coffee fields. By forming Hinga Kawa, these women are able to take pride in selling coffee that they have grown and also have a supportive network of women who share their hardships. Although Fair Trade has not made these women rich, it has provided them with an income that will allow them to send their children to school and still be able to feed them.
Hinga Kawa Women’s Association of coffee farmers in Rwanda
Brazil
The story of one woman, Donha Conceção, also featured by Fair Trade USA exemplifies the major, life changing impact that Fair Trade can have on struggling women worldwide. When Donha Conceção was widowed with five children to care for, she was left with only the knowledge of coffee farming as means of survival. After a period of extremely difficult times, she decided to join the Fair Trade Certified coffee cooperative, Coocafé, where she learned to farm more sustainably. Through their aid she was able to increase the quality and price of her coffee. The resulting success of her coffee business enabled her to provide for her family and send all of her children to school. She became the first woman to be elected to Coocafé’s board.
India and Nepal
The World Fair Trade Organization conducted research on the role of women in the market and what benefits they receive from group membership and Fair Trade. They looked the Artisans Association, ACP (Association for Craft Producers) and WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), which are Fair Trade working projects for impoverished women in India and Nepal. The women involved were able to earn their own income in a society where women face many restrictions such as the inability to receive higher education and a lack of resources or employment options. They reported that the rare opportunity they were given allowed them to become skilled, capable craftswomen in a safe environment. Also, the contribution they made to their household income changed their husband’s attitudes towards them, causing them to be treated with with more respect and to be given more authority.
Photo: Carol Wills
In numerous other countries around the world women are benefiting from the increase in Fair Trade initiatives. What could be better motivation to support Fair Trade than to know that your purchases are ethical and are contributing to the ability of women worldwide to take control of their lives.
Sources:
Barrow, Katie. 2010. Women, Coffee & Hope: Fair Trade is Blossoming in the Hills of Rwanda. Fair Trade USA.
FairtradeUSA. 2010. Grandmother, Coffee Farmer, Leader: Meet Donha Conceção.
Jones, Elaine. 2012. Women’s Economic Empowerment Through Fair Trade: Case Studies from India and Nepal. World Fair Trade Organization.
Photo: “Women Coffee farmers in Rwanda” from Fair Trade USA.
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Our Fair Trade products are also eco-friendly. Whether turning recycled tire tubes or recycled orange peel into unique products, or using sustainably harvested rainforest seeds, each ReStyle product shoots for the highest green mark to help reduce our footprint on our planet.
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