How does Fair Trade promote gender equality?

How does Fair Trade promote gender equality?

Sam Bills (Manager) gives expert video advice on: How does Fair Trade encourage environmentally safe practices? and more...

Of the over a billion people who live on less than a dollar a day, well over half of those people are women, and so women are among the most disadvantaged and marginalized producers. Fair Trade really aims at helping those women to be able to provide for themselves and for their family. For Ten Thousand Villages, for instance, probably about 75% of the products we sell are made in co-ops that not only have women that are producing the handmade stuff in these co-ops, but are often taking positions of leadership in the co-ops. Fair Trade is empowering women who are among these disadvantaged producers, to be able to use their creativity, to be able to use their skill, to be able to help themselves and to help those around them. A major part of Fair Trade is this issue of valuing the input of women and what place they have in the production process, and making sure that they are being compensated fairly for that.