Women and Fair Trade

Seventy percent of the world's 1.3 billion poor, people surviving on less than a $1 a day, are women. Fair Trade directly benefits women by allowing them the opportunity to work while tending to their daily tasks. Women in developing countries work an average of 60-90 hours a week, which is usually unpaid and involves child care, cleaning, cooking, and agricultural labor. When women have the opportunity to earn an income, they gain increased control over their family's spending priorities. Studies show that when women earn money, they most often use this income to improve the lives of their children. This results in better schooling, healthier food and improved health care for families, which helps to directly end the cycle of poverty.

According to the Fair Trade Federation, 70% of Fair Trade artisans are women, who are often the sole wage earners in their homes. Through their work in craft production and agriculture, women not only improve the lives of their families, but improve their own lives as well. Women report that their work has given them self esteem and the opportunity to participate in decision making in their communities.

Facts about the World's Women:

• Women are paid 30-40% less than men for comparable work
• As the primary caretakers of children, the elderly and the sick, women are responsible for meeting the basic needs of the majority of the world's population
• Up to 50% of women worldwide experience domestic violence during marriage
• Two-thirds of the world's 1 billion illiterate adults are women
• Girls account for two-thirds of the 130 million children absent from school worldwide
• 80% of all refugees and displaced persons globally are women and children
• 90% of the casualties of war are civilians, 75% of whom are women and children
• Indigenous women have the world's lowest rates of education and life expectancy and the highest rates of illiteracy, infant and maternal mortality and death from preventable diseases.