The nexus of gender and alternative trade: a feminist analysis

Coffee is an important and highly traded commodity in the international marketplace. However, the production and sale of coffee has created an unfair trading system where small-scale peasant producers are greatly disadvantaged. In response to this unfair system, a movement called alternative trade, which is directed by the International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT), is working to give small-scale producers of coffee a more stable market and opportunities for social development. However, no information is available as to whether the needs of women, who are producers of coffee and labourers on cooperatively owned plantations, are being met. Therefore, the central question posed is: To what extent, if at all, do alternative trade coffee cooperatives have the potential to meet the practical and strategic gender needs of women coffee workers? The question has been answered through the application of feminist development approaches to three case studies; two focused on craft cooperatives and one on a coffee cooperative. Analyzing three case studies through Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD) lenses, have helped to discern the extent to which practical and strategic gender needs are being met. The information used for the analysis was made available from both written literature and the original research I conducted in Guatemala. The findings suggest that craft cooperatives and the coffee cooperative do have the potential to meet practical and, to a lesser extent, strategic gender needs. However, meeting strategic gender needs are not of primary concern to both the IFAT and the male cooperative managers. Strategic gender needs are being met to a certain capacity indirectly through participation and occasional awareness-raising in the craft cooperatives. Coffee cooperatives need to learn from the positive outcomes of the craft cooperatives. This suggests some important implications, both for practical policy direction for IFAT and for further research. The significance of this study is that alternative trade development projects have potential to help women in the Third World meet crucial practical and strategic gender needs.