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Gendering Codes of Conduct: Chiquita Bananas and Nicaraguan Women Workers

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Calculating the Social

Abstract

All of us have probably eaten Chiquita bananas. Some of us may even remember the Chiquita banana jingle and the blue sticker with Miss Chiquita. Few of us know how the company has engaged with issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the implications for women workers in ‘the very, very tropical equator’ where bananas grow.

When asked to name one brand of bananas, more consumers say Chiquita than any other brand. Chiquita is tops with consumers for taste, appearance, freshness, nutrition, value and size, too.

(www.chiquitabanana.com)

I’m Chiquita banana and I’ve come to say Bananas have to ripen in a certain way But, bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator So you should never put bananas in the refrigerator.

(Banana jingle, 1944, sung by Miss Chiquita)

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© 2010 Marina Prieto-Carrón and Wendy Larner

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Prieto-Carrón, M., Larner, W. (2010). Gendering Codes of Conduct: Chiquita Bananas and Nicaraguan Women Workers. In: Higgins, V., Larner, W. (eds) Calculating the Social. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230289673_3

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