What is Fair Trade? | Impact

Empowering Women

While women do much of the work on small farms and plantations, they often still face unequal treatment, discrimination, and harassment in many rural areas and in factories which have reputations for abuses. Fair Trade strives to help women realize their full potential and to get the respect in their communities that they deserve. Women hired on Fair Trade farms and plantations are guaranteed access to health care, certain job rights, and freedom from harassment so that women are able to play a strong role in their families and in their coops. Fair Trade certified farms have empowered women through opportunities for education, leadership roles, and scholarships so that girls can imagine a future where they can be their own boss.

Featured Producer

COSURCA

Empresa Cooperativa del Sur del Cauca (COSURCA) is composed of 14 farmer associations and coffee cooperatives from four municipalities in Cauca, a mountainous province of southwestern Colombia. Founded in 1993, this organization has been seriously affected by armed extremist groups who value the area for its proximity to the jungle and abundant natural resources.

How they have made a difference: Women. The co-op has designed coffee and intercropping training programs as well as a credit fund specifically for women in the community, who are encouraged to register into the co-op directly as members.

Read More

Quotable

“

Thanks to Fair Trade, I sent my son to college to study engineering after my husband passed away. I was struggling to meet expenses with a single income. Without the assistance, I couldn't have managed it. I am thankful to everybody behind this for helping people like us dream big. ”

Smt. Alli, tea garden worker

Fast Facts

Many cooperatives have women’s committees that meet regularly to advance gender equality and create programs to encourage female participation and leadership within the organization.

From the Blog

Grandmother, Coffee Farmer, Leader: Meet Donha Conceção
Last year Fair Trade was more necessary than ever for millions of family farmers like Donha Conceção as our global community faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Read More

This Valentine's Day...Give a Woman a Fair Wage
Fair Trade provides women from Honduras to Sri Lanka with steady wages, education, and opportunities for leadership.
Read More

Women, Coffee & Hope: Fair Trade is Blossoming in the Hills of Rwanda
My name is Katie Barrow and I am the PR Manager at Fair Trade USA (you may also know me as the voice behind our Twitter @FairTradeUSA).  I have been working for this amazing, mission-driven...
Read More