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Gender, health, labor, and inequities: a review of the fair and alternative trade literature

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Abstract

Although research into fair and alternative trade networks has increased significantly in recent years, very little synthesis of the literature has occurred thus far, especially for social considerations such as gender, health, labor, and equity. We draw on insights from critical theorists to reflect on the current state of fair and alternative trade, draw out contradictions from within the existing research, and suggest actions to help the emancipatory potential of the movement. Using a systematic scoping review methodology, this paper reviews 129 articles and reports that discuss the social dimensions of fair and alternative trade experienced by Southern agricultural producers and workers. The results highlight gender, health, and labor dimensions of fair and alternative trade systems and suggest that diverse groups of producers and workers may be experiencing related inequities. By bringing together issues that are often only tangentially discussed in individual studies, the review gives rise to a picture that suggests that research on these issues is both needed and emerging. We end with a summary of key findings and considerations for future research and action.

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Notes

  1. Recent changes within the fair trade certification system, with Transfair USA resigning its membership from Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), exemplifies this and provides a timely and vivid illustration of the importance of exploring the social dimensions of fair and alternative trade in different contexts.

  2. For the remainder of the article, the term “fair and alternative trade networks” will be shortened to “fair trade.” Table 3 illustrates the scope of markets subsumed under this category.

  3. In fact, categorizations of the studies examined for this review (Fig. 1) reveal that almost all research into fair trade explores more than one impact area.

  4. See also the description of a scoping study in Mays et al. (2001).

  5. Review articles do exist but their methodologies are poorly defined and they focus on a wide swath of impacts and include few case studies. This article expands on existing reviews by focusing on the social dimensions of fair trade as well as by detailing a systematic review methodology.

  6. Keywords included gender*, women, woman, female, health*, “quality of life,” wellbeing, “well being,” mortality, labour*, labor*, work*, producer, mozo, tenure, ownership, housing, education, “capacity building,” literacy, cooperative*, empower*, participation, leadership, membership, equity, class, race, discrimination, “social status,” “social development,” and security. The Boolean operator * searches for all forms of a root word. Health*, for example, searches for health, healthy, healthcare, and so forth.

  7. This criterion allowed for the inclusion of different voices and contested agendas within fair and alternative trade networks and situated fair trade as a dynamic social process. Although they differ in certain regards, the included perspectives all go “beyond the commercial transaction and gives the producers tools of empowerment” (Renard 2003, p. 91). We contrast this with initiatives that operate predominantly through corporate codes of conduct in mainstream markets. Further, fair and alternative trade networks can be seen to be operating at a macro-economic level, aiming to “change unequal trade relationships” as opposed to offering minimum protections for workers (Valor 2006, p. 271). One reason for this admittedly broad definition of fair trade—which allowed for the inclusion of a number of different approaches to fair trade production and a rich variety of producer experiences—was that a number of the original papers were not clear about the certification models under which the producer associations were organized.

  8. Although we included a wide variety of peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature, our search strategies used reputable academic databases and accepted scholarly methods, which provided an inherent inclusion filter.

  9. Argumentative essays were defined as: (a) not containing any original, uncited empirical data or (b) only discussing program or certification objectives rather than impacts. Review articles were excluded from this categorization and considered to be empirical.

  10. Thank you to the anonymous reviewer who noted the important distinction within fair trade between the terms product and commodity.

  11. By virtue of including only those articles that explored producer experiences within fair and alternative trade networks, the review became limited to research geographically located in the Global South.

  12. For a more thorough description of FLO’s new global strategy, see FLO (2009), which notes that to maximize the impact of fair trade, FLO “will improve our understanding of the particular contexts in which different groups of people experience hardship. This will include strengthening our policies on equality and diversity within organisations in respect of issues such as gender” (p. 6).

  13. The original authors’ conceptualization of health was prioritized when charting the data. No pre-existing definition of health was assumed.

  14. The dop system (also known as tot system) involves using cheap wine to partially compensate farm workers. The practice has been illegal since 1965 but its impacts and legacy continue to cause problems.

Abbreviations

FLO:

Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International

NGO:

Non-governmental organization

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  1. Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E5, Canada

    Vincent Terstappen & Lori Hanson

  2. Department of Sociology, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, 1437 College Drive, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0W6, Canada

    Darrell McLaughlin

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Terstappen, V., Hanson, L. & McLaughlin, D. Gender, health, labor, and inequities: a review of the fair and alternative trade literature. Agric Hum Values 30, 21–39 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-012-9377-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-012-9377-7

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