Fair Trade and Justice: A Case Study of Fair Trade and its effect on the Freedom of Bolivia’s indigenous women.

Abstract
Amartya Sen wrote that for justice to be realized, freedom needed to be expanded. Fair Trade, a multi-billion dollar global trade model, purports to promote justice, and therefore expand freedom. Fair Trade is a four-pillar structure comprised of institutions, producers,consumers, and government/policy. An economic, ethnographic study of Bolivia’s indigenous women working within the Fair Trade model for the past 15 years reported mixed results. The women questioned the justice of the model based on negative experiences with irregular work, stress, and unsupportive communities. At the same time, women reported enhanced capabilities and opportunities from skills development, empowerment, and income. Although it increased women’s freedom, there were ways in which Fair Trade could be made fairer through transparency, reciprocity, and public reasoning. These would need to be equally present amongst all four pillars of Fair Trade. This work is significant in that it creates a new understanding of justice and trade which enables women’s voices to be heard.

Keywords: Fair Trade, women, quality of life, globalization, empowerment, social capital, ethics, economic justice