July 14, 2010

Yesterday Anne Manning from Australia added to the discussion.  “I am involved with a fair trade company in Australia that has strong links to a number of small producer groups, many of them supported by Catholic religious groups. In an attempt to help one group of women in north east Thailand move towards independence in their business, they were linked with a garment making company. However, the rates paid by this company for the making of their product (jeans) was so very low that the women were unable to continue with this arrangement. Problems include: a market that allows companies to take their work to those who can/will accept the lowest wages; the fact that not all women in these situations have the skills to negotiate better deals for themselves; the lack of specific business development skills and business development support programs top enable the women to successfully develop their businesses towards greater independence.”   If you have some response to this why not go on line and contribute to the discussion?  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw55/onlinediscussion3.html