« The Cronicles of Local & Organic Living | Main | Social Art & the Art of Society »
November 18, 2008
Fair Trade; Fair Wage; Fair Transaction.
Alongside my core requirement classes for my business degree, I opted to enroll in a weekly women's studies class this semester as an outlet for my free-flowing thoughts. The class itself is a great stress-reliever, as twelve of us meet on Wednesday nights to discuss "gendered lives in the U.S." As a final project, we were told to pinpoint an issue in contemporary society and come up with a plan-of action. A revelation. A solution.
I chose the topic of fair trade...which led into free trade...and intertwined with women's working wages. All of the above affect all members of our community. I don't think that enough people are aware of the importance of sustainablity in today's world:
The phrase “Fair Trade” has been tossed around in contemporary society as frequently and nonchalantly as yesterday’s forecast or political propaganda. But does the public really know the difference between fair trade and free trade? How about the impact of trade barriers on women’s working wages? Or that the products they hand-pick in the supermarket had previously been in the hands of exploited workers? Essentially, I have chosen to focus in on the importance of fair and liberated trade; I will be emphasizing the importance of relaxing trade barriers in order to ultimately result in an increase in job openings for women – with equal salaries cemented into the employment description. Through informed consumption, written letters to people in positions of power, and protesting, we can work to educate others on this emerging issue while fighting for socio-economic change.The first aspect of the problem, fair trade, involves a number of criteria: payment of a fair price to producers, safe working conditions, no forced labor or child labor environmentally sustainable farming, direct trade with importers, and partial proceeds devoted to social development projects. This issue typically pertains to the export of goods (handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, bananas, cotton, etc.) from developing countries to developed countries. Outside of the government and the businesses directly involved in the transactions, society comes into play; a good number of consumers are unaware of what goes on behind-the-scenes of America’s imports. Additionally, consumers may be unaware of the ethical decisions (or lack thereof) of large businesses on a daily basis as they profit maximize while minimizing their morals.
Alongside fair trade lies the issue of barriers to trade. Quotas, or limitations on the country’s imports, have a greater affect on society than they seem. Not only do quotas limit the product diversity in our country, but a restriction on trade reduces the number of available jobs – along with the available jobs that provide equal pay for women: “A study of 35 developing countries found a strong positive correlation between the number of female workers per 100 male workers and export growth” (Wood 1991). Additionally, the gender wage gap can be closed through trade expansion; trade increases competition amongst firms, causing a downward pressure on costs and less discrimination against women with comparable skills to men: “A cross-country study that investigated the impact of trade on the gender wage gap suggests that within occupations, increasing trade in most cases is associated with narrowing gender wage gaps” (Oostendorp 2004). I believe that this will be eye-opening news to today’s young future leaders – especially women – who will be the target audience for the implementation process of my solution.
My proposed solution to battle the problem of tightly restricted trade and the persistent gender wage gap begins with informing young adults about the perils of the situation. Therefore, I will encourage informed consumption of fair trade products by posting powerful flyers around campus advertising the importance of supporting fair trade industries. Building on this foundation of spreading knowledge to my peers, I will urge people to write letters to their home-state representatives, advocating a relaxation of trade restrictions in order to ultimately close the gender wage gap that continues to plague today’s society. Telling students to write to their home-state representatives will help knowledge of the quota issue to spread to other states besides Michigan, working towards a nation-wide campaign for policy alteration. Finally, I will seek out student groups on campus (such as S.O.L.E) to help organize boycotts and protests against local businesses which are unethical in their decisions. This will simultaneously impact the way those businesses view their policies, while further demonstrating the importance of fair trade and informed consumption – which powerfully reinforces the previous steps of my solution.
You can read-up on the impact of trade ont he gender-wage gap here.
Here is a flyer I made to get the word out.
शांति
Karen Rockwood
Posted by rockwood at November 18, 2008 01:35 PM