Invisible threads

Overview

Two case studies from Guatemala and Bangladesh illustrate Oxfam’s Fair Trade programme. This seeks to foster relations between Southern producers and Northern consumers, ensuring the former fair livelihoods, and communicating the fair trade message to the latter. Multiple connecting threads lie at the heart of the programme. The vast majority of participants are women, because they are most exploited in labour markets. A newsletter links customers, staff and volunteers, where women also dominate. The programme is trying to attract more men, especially as support for fair trade continues to spread, and as demand for ethically traded goods rises.

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