Fair Trade activities for the International Women’s Day

Womens Day collage

For International Women’s Day 2016, WFTO involved men in their Women For Change activity and asked them to tell us which woman in their environment is inspiring. Stories were shared with a picture of men with their Women Agent for Change and a short explanation of how this woman makes a difference. In total, 30 stories were shared on WFTO Facebook page and on Twitter. Stories came from Asia, the Middle-East, Africa and South America. Male support and recognition is believed to be an essential element to greater equality. WFTO-Europe followed this initiative and WFTO-Asia organised marches. Photos of the marches can be found on WFTO Facebook page too.

On 8 March, Fairtrade International celebrated the day with FairTradeChats on Twitter. Fairtrade Foundation UK invited coffee farmer Ivania Calderón Peralta to London who works for the Fairtrade-certified Union of Co-operatives, CECOCAFEN, in Nicaragua. She replied to questions concerning her work and their improvements thanks to Fairtrade International as well as about women’s working situations. She explained for example that the biggest challenge she faces is climate change. She also underlined the importance of fair practice in the coffee sector, since having a fair income is crucial for raising her children.

The action follows the publication of Fairtrade International’s fully refreshed gender strategy that can be found on their gender page, along with a short introductory summary.

Later in the day, Fairtrade Mark US organized a FairtradeChat with Tsitsi Tchoruma, COO of Fairtrade Africa and Senior Gender Advisor to Fairtrade International, to talk about issues on Gender Equality related to Fair Trade. These FairtradeChats allow to raise awareness among consumers and are organized regularly. At the end, the organisation gives a Fairtrade Prize (Fairtrade giveaway) to one of the participants.

Tsitsi Tchoruma also published on Fairtrade International website an opinion piece, Behind the petal, in which she stresses the need to demystify gender, i.e. get aware that this inequality touches men too. She also added that one of Fairtrade International’s project was to secure ownership of crops to help women earn a fair income. Furthermore, she asked for local authorities and actors to take part in the change. This opinion piece was also published in the Huffington post France.

Finally, Max Havelaar France emphasized on Twitter how Fair Trade fights for women’s rights all year.