SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION 
Sexual harassment is rife in the flower
industry. A study done for the International Labor Rights Fund in 2005
of the Ecuadorian flower industry found that over 55% of the flower
workers (71% aged 20 - 24) had been the victims of some kind of sexual
harassment. Additionally, women who are discovered to be pregnant are
regularly dismissed from their jobs and are rarely, if ever, guaranteed
their job after the birth. Fair Trade Certification standards require
sexual harassment training and a grievance process to address
complaints. Additionally, standards require that women cannot be fired
on the grounds of pregnancy, are provided with maternity leave, and are
guaranteed their job upon their return.
"We started a committee to address
sexual harassment of women, because this is sometimes poor for women. We
don’t have problems with sexual harassment here, but in others we do. I
was at another farm and I was in my three-month trial period when the
company was deciding whether to hire me. One of the supervisors came up
to me and told me that today they would decide, because they’ve hired
35 people and they can only choose 3, and they will choose today. So he
came up to me (I was much younger at the time) and said, 'Truly, as a
worker, you are very good worker, but you would have to go out with me.'
During this time, I was going through a divorce, and it didn’t seem
fair. So I returned, and I went back and told him, 'Thanks for your
work, but I have to quit on those conditions.' At the same time, they
made me take a pregnancy test, and found out that I was pregnant. They
fired me because they said one needed to work for the farm for one year
in order to stay working while pregnant. Here there is no discrimination
for pregnancy, sex, race, nor age."
--Esperanza Vasquez, Hoja
Verde, Ecuador
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Many Fair Trade coops use Fair Trade premiums
toward domestic violence education policies. In Nicaragua, one coop uses
popular theater to educate the community about domestic violence. A
Honduran coop, RAOS, has a policy that spousal abuse is grounds for
dismissal from the coop. In addition, many Fair Trade coops claim that
the personal empowerment and improved quality of life resulting from
Fair Trade translate into a lower incidence of domestic violence among
coop members than in the community at large.