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Fairtrade promotes gender equality

Rebalancing gender inequality is baked into all facets of our work—from standards to programs to research. Trade cannot be fair unless it includes people of all genders.

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  • 25%
    Only 25% of Fairtrade farmers and workers are women.
Impacts of gender inequality

Gender inequality hurts communities

Around the world, women are not treated equitably. This looks different from country to country and region to region, but the root problem is the same. Though women make up the majority of people producing food, they rarely receive their share of the benefits of their hard labor. Women in the agricultural communities where we work often don't have control of the money they earn; don’t own land or crops; don’t have access to education, training or supplies; and are discriminated against when applying for credit.

Ndiuzayani Zaya, Sugar Cane Farmer in Malawi

"We have now learned that being a female doesn’t mean you’re a failure, being a female means that you can do everything that boys and men can do. So, I too have the right to go to school, the right to get employed, the right to do many things, because I am also human and also capable of those things."

An aerial shot of three workers carrying freshly harvested sugarcane from the field.

Gender equality is vital

Our gender strategy supports farming organizations in tackling the unequal power relationships that hold women back in the workplace and in society. We focus on increasing women and girls’ human, social, financial and physical capital to rebalance power structures between people of different genders.

Two baskets are each partially filled with ripe, red coffee cherries.

Fairtrade producer groups commit to:

  1. no discrimination on the basis of gender or marital status
  2. zero tolerance of behavior that is sexually intimidating, abusive or exploitative
  3. no testing for pregnancy when recruiting workers
  4. programs to support historically marginalized groups like women
  5. developing a gender policy, over time
See the Standards

Gender equality takes work

Setting and monitoring standards is not enough to create gender equality. Fairtrade actively and intentionally works with women and men to fix power imbalances. From promoting Premium projects centered on women to starting women's schools of leadership to collaborating with trade unions and NGOs on well-being—we know that investing in women creates a more just and fair world.

Find out what we're doing

Hear from real women in Fairtrade

  • Rosine: Rosine works on a cocoa farm in Cote d'Ivoire to have a better future for herself and freedom for other women in her community.
  • Olga: Olga migrated to the US to secure the resources to start her own coffee farm in Honduras.
  • Anita: Anita is a coffee farmer in Papua New Guinea. She is determined not only to find success in the coffee industry but also to bring the next generation along with her.