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Empowering Women through Fair Trade? Lessons from Asia

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  • Anna Hutchens

Abstract

Fair Trade is promoted as a system of trade that empowers women producers. Yet there is little empirical evidence with which to evaluate this claim. To what extent are women empowered through Fair Trade? While some suggest that focusing on handicrafts would advance the goal of women's empowerment, an analysis of the Fair Trade craft industry from the perspective of Asian craft producer networks reveals two key obstacles: fair trade's ‘charity’ approach to the craft sector, which reinforces traditional gender hierarchies, and the absence of a policy framework and institutional mechanisms that promote women's empowerment as a rights-based rather than a culture-based issue. The paper identifies two solutions to these discrete problems: a market-oriented craft business model, of which there are several empirical examples; and a human rights-based policy framework and robust regulatory mechanisms to address gender inequality in Fair Trade. The implications of these findings for Fair Trade's approach to empowering women are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Hutchens, 2010. "Empowering Women through Fair Trade? Lessons from Asia," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 449-467.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:31:y:2010:i:3:p:449-467
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2010.488477
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    Cited by:

    1. Jess Bonnan-White & Andrea Hightower & Ameena Issa, 2013. "Of couscous and occupation: a case study of women’s motivations to join and participate in Palestinian fair trade cooperatives," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(3), pages 337-350, September.
    2. Meemken, Eva-Marie & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can private food standards promote gender equality in the small farm sector?," 57th Annual Conference, Weihenstephan, Germany, September 13-15, 2017 261999, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    3. Tomomi Naka, 2013. "Generational Effects of Handicraft Fair Trade Production: A Bangladesh Case Study," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 2, October.
    4. Cheryl McEwan & Alex Hughes & David Bek, 2017. "Fairtrade, place and moral economy: Between abstract ethical discourse and the moral experience of Northern Cape farmers," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(3), pages 572-591, March.
    5. Meemken, Eva-Marie & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can Private Food Standards Promote Gender Equality in the Small Farm Sector?," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258088, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Johannes Kruse, 2014. "Women’s representation in the UN climate change negotiations: a quantitative analysis of state delegations, 1995–2011," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 349-370, November.

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