UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Unraveling Fair Trade: Perceptions of Women Textile Weavers in Nepal

by

Sarah Rich-Zendel

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

INTERDISCIPLINARY GRADUATE PROGRAM

CALGARY, ALBERTA

SEPTEMBER, 2011

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1+1 Canada Abstract

Using Nepal as a case study, this research investigates women textile weavers' perceptions of fair trade and work. Fair trade is often critiqued for its lack of in-depth qualitative research demonstrating long term and sustainable positive impacts for workers. In particular, there is a lack of research that includes handicraft producers' experiences and perceptions as the central part of inquiry. There is also a need for comparative research on the value fair trade compared to other work life reform, development interventions or even conventional working environments. This study compares the perceptions of women textile weavers both inside and outside fair trade industries in Nepal through semi-structured qualitative interviews in order to determine if and how fair trade makes a perceivable difference in their work environments and if it is achieving its stated development goals. Ultimately this study addresses a variety of issues that are lacking attention in global production debates, including: the gender and feminization of global labour, the agency of producers to influence production and the effectiveness of social labeling and fair trade schemes in improving working conditions for producers. 11

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my supervisory committee, Dr. James Frideres, Dr. Caeser Apentiik and Dr. Abu Rahaman. I would also like to acknowledge Pauline Fisk the Graduate Program Administrator for the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program and Dr. Tom Keenan and Dr. Valerie Haines who both served as program coordinators while I completed my MA. The Interdisciplinary Graduate Program has been so supportive and provided the perfect framework for achieving my academic goals.

Jim, you are an inspiring mentor. You have kept me grounded through this whole process and provided invaluable advice and coaching to deal with the ups and downs of academia. You always seemed to know exactly what to say to keep me calm and focused on the task at hand. Although you did not manage to turn me into a quantitative researcher, I promise I will send you some amazing regression analyses from U of T.

Caeser, thank you for not only being a mentor but also a friend. Your door was always open and I am going to miss hanging out in your office and debating the latest international development debacles. Most of all thank you for challenging my ideas and pushing me to read and work with a critical eye. The skills I learned for applying theory and critical analysis from the courses I took with you inspired me and gave me the confidence to continue in academia.

A special and humble thank you to all the people who generously gave up their time and invited me into their homes and work to participate in this research. Without your practical insight this thesis could not have been written. Your endeavor to contribute to your families and communities in spite of facing immense challenges is an inspiration to me.

I would like to specifically acknowledge Indira Rana Magar, executive director of Prisoner Assistance Nepal and Utsav Shrestha. Both of you are the reasons I came to Nepal and became passionate about women's rights at work. Indira, you are a true activist, leader and teacher. Thank you for inspiring me to return to Nepal and teaching me about what meaningful and decent work really is. Utsav, all that I have learned from your gentle wisdom and spirit are woven through this thesis. It would not exist without you.

I would also like to thank my family: Mom, Dad, Ben, Adam, Utsav and Karen. Our family has produced two dissertations and a thesis this year. Thanks for raising the bar of success so high and keeping me on my toes. Adam, thank you for always sorting me out technologically, you have no idea how much you were missed while I was formatting this thesis and didn't have you right across from me on the couch. You are the best family ever (and that's all I have to say about that). iii

Table of Contents

Abstract i Acknowledgments ii Table of Contents iii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 3 Chapter 2: Literature Review 7 Globalization, Trade and Production 9 Theories of Work, Including Women 16 Fair Trade 22 Conclusion 28 Chapter 3: Introduction to Politics, Handicrafts and Weaving Culture in Nepal 31 Politics and Development 31 Handicraft Production in South Asia.... 36 Weaving in Nepal 38 Palpa 42 Pokhara 42 45 Chapter 4: Research Methodology 50 Sample 51 Ethics Protocol 56 Instrument: Interviewing 57 Translation 58 Method of Analysis 59 What does this type of paid work mean to people? 60 How is work allocated and organized? 60 How is work changing and transforming? 60 Chapter 5: Data Analysis 62 What does paid work mean to people? 63 How is work allocated and organized? 69 How is paid work related to and influenced by social structures? 76 The future of weaving: changes and transformations 83 Conclusion 87 Chapter 6: Discussion 88 Bibliography 94 Chapter 1: Introduction

When I first got involved in fair trade, I was an avid supporter. I joined a group on my university campus to arrange monthly fair trade sales in the student centre, I worked for a booth at the local farmers market selling fair trade products, I even worked as a production manger for a fair trade organization buying products in Nepal. The reason I cared so much is because when it comes to being a consumer, I felt guilty knowing I was buying things that are so often made under exploitative conditions. Fair trade seemed the easiest way to inform myself about what I was buying and feel better about my own consumption patterns while helping make the trading system better. However the more I got involved the less confident I became in my ability to understand these supposed "informed" ethical choices I was making.

The inspiration for this study comes from the years I spent living in Nepal and working in the fair trade industry developing an understanding of the intricacies of Nepalese culture, particularly in terms of divisions of labour. I pointedly choose the word industry to describe fair trade. Some people call fair trade a movement, a label or a system, but in Nepal, fair trade is treated as industry. Working with fair trade groups and organizations I began realizing it was not ultimately valued in terms of empowering marginalized workers and creating a more equal trading relationship; it was about creating products that were marketable in the west for a higher price. The gap between what is really happening with fair trade on the ground in Nepal and its stated values in terms of impact on producers' lives is where this study is born. Hence, this inquiry is a critical analysis of fair trade using the voices of producers both included and excluded or even avoided by the fair trade industry. 2

Fair trade and work as subjects of inquiry are interdisciplinary in nature and require a

framework that draws from a variety of methodologies. The goal of this research is to shed light on issues that are often left out or under researched in fair trade discourse, issues of regionalism, producers (especially women's) needs and power, co-optation and re-creation of neoliberal

capitalist regimes through fair trade marketing and an overall lack of consideration for

addressing structural questions such as: Is fair trade the best we can do for marginalized

producers in terms of trade and labour regulation and is fair trade achieving its stated goals?

Dealing with all of these issues is far beyond the scope of my thesis, however this study is a first

step to finding out if female producers in their own regional contexts value the fair trade system.

The concept of the study is simple: If fair trade works it should make a perceivable difference to

the people involved in a number of dimensions including lifestyle, wages, relationships at work

and perceptions of their work environment and in order to find out if it does we must start by

asking the producers directly.

When deciding how to approach this study it was easy to determine what methods I did

not want to use. First, I did not want to do an economic impact assessment of fair trade for two

reasons, I wanted the study to be about the producers and elevate the producers' opinions and

voices in the fair trade discourse. Also, the value of studying in-depth qualitative aspects of fair

trade is lacking in most research such as, producers' participation in decision-making, defining

how the system works and their opinions of its impact on their lives and communities.

Considering the elevated status these aspects receive in promotion and marketing, the fair trade

system uses producers' narratives as merely anecdotal rather than the centre of study. I wanted to

avoid doing ethnography, treating fair trade as a cultural phenomenon, because this study is

inherently critical and strives to place fair trade in its political, global and most importantly 3 regional context. In order to achieve this in-depth critical analysis, I needed to go beyond just interviews and frame the narratives of producers in their regional, cultural and political contexts.

We rely on a global workforce to meet our material needs. The current domestic and international systems for regulating work are failing to protect the needs of many vulnerable workers in developing countries, especially women (Heerden, 2010). Auret van Heerden, the head of the Fair Labour Association, characterizes these failures as

'governance gaps' (Heerden, 2010). Fair trade is a widespread development intervention that seeks to remedy these governance gaps. It can be considered a strategy for what Hill

(2001) refers to as 'work life reform' or "work life improvement and development." Two types of regulatory bodies characterize fair trade: Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO) and World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). The former certifies products like coffee and tea and the latter certifying organizations that are committed to fair trade values, usually handicraft and artisan groups. Ostensibly the aim of fair trade is to create international trade and labour regulations that are more equitable for marginalized workers through dialogue, transparency and partnership, with a specific focus on the empowerment of women (Fairtrade Labeling Organization, 2010; World Fair Trade

Organization, 2010). However, an emerging body of critical research raises questions regarding the systems' legitimacy and long-term viability (Booth, 2004; Booth &

Whetstone, 2007; Hutchens, 2009; Jaffee, 2007; Nicholls & Opal, 2005; Renard, 2003,

2005; Sidwell, 2008). There also is a lack of systemic research on the impacts and viability of fair trade in the handicraft industry. When research is conducted in this area it 4

is critiqued for being anecdotal or inconclusive (Goldman & Rosenthal, 2011; Littrell &

Dickson, 2010).

Currently there is only one study, Artisans and Fair Trade: Crafting Development by Littrell and Dickson (2010) that involves an in-depth empirical and critical assessment of the social and economic impacts of handicraft work in India within a fair trade context.

However this research does not compare the effectiveness of fair trade to other development interventions, or even the conventional handicraft market. Without this comparison how can we be sure that all the time, funding and effort being put into fair trade is worth it? This calls for a new way of studying fair trade in order to determine its relevance to workers in developing countries. Qualitative studies that include the perspectives of handicraft workers, specifically women, are particularly important because they are underrepresented in fair trade research. By placing fair trade in the

context of global production and its impacts on developing countries, I suggest a new theoretical and methodological approach to studying fair trade handicrafts. This approach

values the perspective of women in the handicraft industry.

The fair trade system emerged from the ideological debate in globalization

discourse about how global production should be managed and theories of women's

unique role in global production. Supporters describe fair trade as "Seek[ing] to redirect

globalization's transformative powers towards the creation of greater social equity on a

global scale" (Raynolds, Murray & Wilkinson, 2007). Thus, the theoretical framework

for a study of fair trade must include the political, economic and sociological theories on

women, production, and globalization. In addition, many studies have identified the 5 importance of the handicraft industry to development in South Asian countries (Littrell &

Dickson, 1999; Littrell & Dickson 2010, Liebl & Roy, 2004). Using these examples, I will discuss why critical research into fair trade must include comparisons between handicraft producers' perceptions inside and outside of fair trade in order to truly understand if it has a perceivable value to workers.

By using Nepal as a case study, this research specifically investigates women

workers' perceptions of fair trade, recognizing their agency in transforming global

production. This agency-oriented perspective addresses fundamental theoretical questions

from disciplines informing globalization debates while evaluating whether the fair trade

system is appropriate for improving 'governance gaps' in global labour regulation.

In chapter two, I review the literature and theory informing fair trade and global

production debates. This chapter puts fair trade in the broader context of global

production and introduces previous research and critiques of fair trade. Chapter three is

an introduction to Nepalese politics and development focusing on the handicraft and

weaving industries in South Asia and Nepal. Then I introduce the particular areas where I

conducted research. Chapter four describes my method of research, profiling my sample

of participants and the qualitative interview process. In chapter five I analyze the data I

collected and using evidence from participants' interviews I present the themes that

emerged throughout the interview process. I refer to interview participants and their work

places by pseudonyms. After every quote I also distinguish whether the participant works

in a non-fair trade environment (nft) or a fair trade environment (ft) and the location of 6 their work place. In chapter six I review the implications of this data and suggest future

policy considerations and research. Chapter 2: Literature Review

The study of fair trade is fundamentally a study of work in the context of globalized production. As a subject of inquiry, work is by nature interdisciplinary, theorized in sociology, political science, economics, and international development. This study explores fair trade through the same broad questions classical social theorists, such as

Marx, Durkheim and Weber asked about work: How is it allocated and organized? What does it mean to people? How is it connected to other social structures? (Strangleman &

Warren, 2008) and how is work changing? Drawing from previous research, I look at fair trade in terms of participants' expressed experiences and the influences on these experiences (Creswell, 2007). By comparing the perceptions and lifestyles of textile weavers working inside and outside of the fair trade industry, I can assess its relevance in this type of work environment.

Uncovering the relevance of fair trade through workers' perspectives requires a

constructivist view of reality, which relies on two core assumptions (Kratochwil, 2008).

First, agency matters in social life, and therefore agents are not "solely throughputs"

(Kratochwil, 2008) of structures that work behind their backs. In this context, such

structures include globalization, neoliberalism, and capitalism. Second, since the human

world is based on pretense, the notions actors have about their actions cannot be

considered independently of their description and explanations of their actions

(Kratochwil, 2008). Hill (2001) defines agency in work life reform, like fair trade, as the

ability to act, based on self- and interpersonal respect acquired through solidarity or

collective action. These assumptions are the basis for an inquiry into how workers, as agents in the global workforce, socially construct their environment, power relationships, and perceptions of a global workforce.

The study of fair trade and work life reform requires and in-depth understanding of a number of theories. Booth and Whetstone (2007) identify that fair trade puts itself on a higher moral plane than other economic activity. However since fair trade makes strong political claims, it should stand up to strong tests of validity using political economy theory like any other economic policy, "Those promoting fair trade should have the humility to accept that their way of doing business is not objectively better for the poor than other ways of doing business" (Booth & Whetstone, 2007). Therefore the theoretical framework for this study includes a combination of social constructivism, and feminist historical materialism in critical international political economy scholarship. Through these ontologies I explore the historical context of a gendered workforce in Nepal and respond to arguments from critical International Political Economy, that current research on global labour treats workers, especially women, as "invisible" (Amoore, 2006). This chapter introduces the theoretical framework for this research within the broad discourse regarding globalization and production. I will focus on theories of work, on the relationship of these theories to the lives of working women, and on a critical analysis of fair trade.

In order to understand fair trade's roots as an alternative globalization counter- movement, I must introduce the conventional systems it claims to oppose so I will begin by introducing neoliberal globalization, trade and production. I will then discuss women's unique position in global production and why including women's voices in 9 debates on global production is important. Finally, I will critically assess fair trade and identify the gaps in fair trade research.

Globalization, Trade and Production

As a theoretical concept, globalization has many definitions, but is popularly used as a

"metaphor" to understand overarching processes of change in contemporary capitalism and economics (Amoore, et al., 1997). It is generally considered a "seemingly inevitable", "homogenizing" (Desai, 2002), and "abstract" (Wichterich, 2002) process of global economic integration. Elliott critiques this conception of globalization as "the final triumph of capital over labour"(quoted in Amoore, et al., 1997). Below I outline why this notion of globalization as an overarching structural force beyond the reach of social agency, is contested by women's experiences and power in the global workforce.

The relationship between globalization and labour cannot be discussed without considering what Munck (2002) refers to as the 'Polanyi problem' based on arguments from Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation (1944) or "reconciling the demands for

'free' markets and the need for minimal social cohesion"(Munck, 2002). The friction between neoliberal principles of unfettered free markets (widely practiced in global

institutions) and the opposing global citizen movements (demanding regulation of market outcomes such as labour) have created an ideological divide (Freeman, 2002). This division defines our understanding of globalization. Scholars, including Patel and Munck, use Polanyi's concept of a "double movement" to demonstrate that the disenfranchisement created by self-regulating market policies being thrust upon countries by international institutions (the first movement) creates a response from society seeking 10 justice for inequality caused by these practices (the second or counter-movement).

Furthermore, both movements occur within a market society framework (Patel, 2009).

Many international governance institutions and political economy scholars accept

the hegemonic deregulatory model of globalization as an economically and

technologically driven structure in which the social and political aspects of

transformation are "abstracted" and the social costs of globalization are seen as

"temporary by-products of adjustment" (Amoore, 2006). In terms of production,

globalization is a force that increases our access to a variety of products but makes the

production process less visible as the workforce becomes increasingly deregulated and

globalized. This conception leads many to believe that social agency and politics is

"dead" and globalization is "out of our control," being driven by structures such as

technology and capitalism, while society strives to catch up (Amoore, et al., 1997).

Contrary to this belief, the technological aspects of globalization are actually

making the social costs of deregulated globalization and the agency of workers more

visible (Armbuster, et al., 2007). Through access to the internet and social media,

technology is allowing workers to organize and communicate in simpler, cheaper, and

more accessible ways, strengthening the 'countermovement.' There are many examples

of the influence of transnational global labour movements, activists and citizen

organizations on domestic and international governance, increasing workers' access to

rights in the global workforce (Armbuster, et al., 2007; Freeman, 2002; J. Stiglitz, 2002),

countering the notion of globalization as an overarching structure outside the control of

social agency. Munck refers to globalization's penetration of political, social and 11

economic life as no longer something "just 'out there' but it is 'in here' too" (Munck,

2002).

This study uses a "practice-centered" view of globalization by looking at the everyday experiences of textile weavers in fair trade and non-fair trade work environments. Amoore (2002) identifies two features of a practice-centered view of globalization that support uncovering the "structuration" of global production or the relationship between an agent and the agent's socially determined capability to act

(Barker, 2004). First, globalization does not exist without constructed meaning ascribed by agents: workers, policymakers, and social groups involved in the process. Second, a practice-centered view accounts for the resistance global restructuring faces as it interacts with the everyday lives of workers. Therefore, this research uncovers the constructed meaning of the globalized fair trade system by comparing the perceptions of workers both inside and outside of fair trade.

Taking a practice-centered view of globalization is consistent with many scholars, including Stiglitz (2002), Sen (1999) and Freeman (2002), who study globalization movements from alternative perspectives and challenge orthodox economic thinking.

Their theories demonstrate that hegemonic neoliberal policies defined by powerful institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World

Trade Organization are not adequate for managing the transforming global workforce

(Johnson, 2009; Rodrik, 2002). The critical analysis of these global institutions and related development interventions (including fair trade) are an integral part of this project: Accepting workers as social agents challenges the legitimacy of the ideology 12

upon which these institutions are based. By exposing the power structures behind the global ideology creating the conditions of global labour, this research interprets global production through the construction of individual workers experiences.

When we compare fair trade to the current neoliberal trading system we are faced with a powerful discourse. Development scholars often criticize the neoliberal policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank; which have been argued to slow economic growth and increase inequality in least developed countries (For example:

Joseph Stiglitz, 2002; Jonakin, 2009).

From a political perspective neoliberalism can be defined as the removal of economic regulation by the state to negotiators in the private or "market" sector

(Bracking, 2005). From a policy perspective I will refer to neoliberalism as outlined by

John Williamson's' 'Washington Consensus'. Williamson refers to Washington not only as the United States congress but as the Washington in power of the international financial institutions (Williamson, 1990). Washington Consensus style trade policies promote import liberalization; policies protecting domestic industry are considered to cause negative distortions (Williamson, 1990). Trade liberalization on its own is not a bad strategy but numerous problems emerge when imposing it on developing countries that may not have the capacity to regulate it properly.

Where fair trade is concerned, the major problems that arise after a period of liberalization are unequal market access and the erosion of national labour standards due to weak governance.

Unequal market access is the ultimate paradox of trade liberalization because representatives from developed countries push Washington Consensus trade policy, like lowering import tariffs, 13 when they do not practice it themselves. This creates a very unequal playing field. In 1994 the

World Bank calculated the gains and losses from trade, sub-Saharan Africa suffered 2 percent losses because trade negotiations opened their markets to manufactured goods from developed countries without opening up the markets of developed countries to agricultural goods in which sub-Saharan African countries often have a comparative advantage (Stiglitz, 2002). This allows developed countries, like the United States, to control the market share of poor countries through the same tariffs on imports that they have pressured poor countries to remove, so they have no other choice but to export cheap commodity goods (Oxfam, 2009).

One of the main critiques the fair trade movement has with neoliberal trade policy is the unwillingness of the World Trade Organization to adopt a social clause on international core labour standards1 established by the International Labour Organization, a branch of the United

Nations. The International Labour Organization is not an enforcement body, they feel strict enforcement would scare some countries away from joining, ratifying their conventions and taking advantage of their guidance in designing appropriate labour regulation (Block, Roberts,

Ozeki, & Roomkin, 2001). However, international trade is a system that brings together nations with a variety of policy and institutional preference for which the World Trade Organization acts as an interface, regulating negotiated trade policy and punishing those members that break the rules. If trade is seen as a complex system, the World Trade Organization cannot regulate part of the system like ensuring the maintenance of liberal trade, without regulating the social outcomes of trade, which inevitably include labour regulation. If countries with different institutional and policy preference want to reap the benefits of being part of an international liberal trade system

The 1LO promotes 8 core labour standards in four broad categories, freedom from forced labour, freedom from child labour, freedom from discrimination and freedom of association They are currently requesting their members to ratify these conventions universally (ILO, 2009) 14 they should guarantee a minimum level of labour standards and human rights to their workers

([Maier, 1994] cited in Block, Roberts, Ozeki, & Roomkin, 2001). The universality of human rights can always be contested, however some core labour standards have already been declared by the United Nations as universal human rights and included in the United Nations Universal

Declarations of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the

International Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Trebilcock, 2007). Therefore, an organization like the World Trade Organization that promotes free trade cannot ignore the protection of human rights that may be violated through the free trade system.

Due to the difficulty in collecting data on labour standards in developing countries there is no accurate or consistent measures of the magnitude of trade injustice globally. However, there is a significant amount of anecdotal evidence, ranging from studies done by Naomi Klein to the

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, that human rights violations occur in trade related labour practices. Most of this evidence comes out of Export Processing Zones. The

International Labour Organization (2003) defines Export Processing Zones as "industrial zones with special incentives set up to attract foreign investors, in which imported materials undergo

some degree of processing before being (re-) exported again." In 1995 the Organization for

Economic Co-operation and Development estimated that there were over 500 Export Processing

Zones in 73 countries (OECD, 1996) and in 2002 the International Labour Organization

estimated there were 3000 Export Processing Zones employing 43 million people (International

Labour Organization, 2003). Klein (2000) interviewed employees in Export Processing Zones in the Philippines, and noted a few of the grossest labour standard violations; forced overtime,

leading in one case to death from pneumonia and the removal of the freedom to protest and form unions; also leading to cases of employees being threatened or even murdered when they tried to 15 pursue their rights through legal means.

Although many economists and international organizations, argue that trade is not the most effective way to enforce international labour standards (for example; Bhagwati, 2004 [2007],

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2004), trade is the main way countries interact with each other on a global scale and has a very strong mechanism for trade related regulation. Although it may be more effective to have strong national institutions, like many trade enforcement critics suggest, ensuring that products made with low ethical labour standards that violate universal human rights coming from countries where labour standards are not enforced, are most easily controlled through trade. Economists are reluctant to admit that national institutions that exist in least developed and developing countries have been eroded through the deregulation and destabilization caused, first through colonialism, and subsequently through Washington Consensus policies tied to debt repayment. They are even more reluctant to take on responsibility for fixing these problems in order to protect the most vulnerable workers that continue to be affected by them. Due to non-democratic or destabilized governments, these

workers have no political forum or power to advocate for their rights.

When Joseph Stiglitz confessed the failures of Structural Adjustment Programs at his

Prebisch Lecture in 1998, there was a question from the floor asking, who should 'pay' for this

'failed economic experiment' (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2004)?

This seems to a be a reoccurring question for the many failures of imperialist western

organizations that have enforced top down, market oriented approaches to development in poor

countries. It is for these reasons that progressive economic thinkers like Rodrik (2002), Sen

(1999) and Stiglitz (2002) support refocusing economic policy around 'human' rather 'market'

outcomes. Sen develops this further in his book Development as Freedom, using the example of 16 slavery. Even though slaves often had higher incomes and often lived longer lives than wage labourers, the loss of freedom of employment choice was a more significant deprivation (Sen,

1999). Economic outcomes, like higher wages or even mortality rates cannot give a complete picture of development success. A person's freedom to choose or an increase in their entitlements are much more important factors to consider.

The core of the fair trade movement is to oppose neoliberal approaches to trade, the injustice it has created, and advocate for the rights of the poor and vulnerable workers that are affected by unfair trade policies. Therefore when looking at the effectiveness of fair trade labeling and distribution it must be discussed in the context of contributing to the overall movement and its long-term ability to enhance trade justice by shifting power away from the dominant neoliberal economic system, towards a more 'human' oriented approach.

Theories of Work, Including Women

This research uses the work of contemporary political economy theorists who reinterpret

Marxist and Gramscian theory to suit the "feminisation" of the global work force or the growing incorporation of women into paid labour (Munck, 2002). Karl Marx, Emile

Durkheim, and Max Weber are considered the founding theorists of work in many disciplines, including sociology, political science and anthropology (Strangleman &

Warren, 2008). Weberian interpretive sociology underlies the research of worker experiences with fair trade. The consideration of workers as knowledgeable agents about their role in society and the analysis of their construction and interpretation of the meaning of work are the methodological foundations for this study (Strangleman &

Warren, 2008). 17

More specifically, the theoretical basis of this inquiry is based on arguments made by Louise Amoore in her essay Invisible Subject(s): Work and Workers in the Global

Political Economy. She argues that:

It is the everyday lives of workers as active subjects that make particular forms of global production possible and [that] potentially limit or contest productive practices...[she] calls for work as a subject of inquiry and workers as global subjects to be positioned centrally in our understanding of the contemporary political economy (Amoore, 2006).

Critical international political economy scholars, such as Cox (1987), Harrod (2006),

Amoore (2006) and Rupert (2009), interpret Gramscian theory to suggest that

transformations through globalization run deeper than structural changes between states;

the transformations (to quote Rupert on Gramsci) "[involve] various kinds of socially

situated actors whose collective self understandings shaped their social identities,

purposes, and horizons of political action" (Rupert, 2009). This position demonstrates the

importance of capturing the voices of workers. Focusing on hegemonic structural forces,

such as trade and capitalism as the main drivers of global transformation is not enough

(Amoore, 2006).

Similar to Gramci's descriptions of the Factory Council Movement in Turin, this

study looks at how the 'organization of work' affects the worker and therefore transforms

society (Rupert, 2009). Through a constructivist lens, the voices of the "unrepresented

workers" are captured in order to understand how fair trade influences workers'

perceptions. Using Marxist and Gramscian conceptions of historical materialism this

study demonstrates that workers' agency is based on circumstances encountered and

transmitted from the past (Marx, 1904). Cox and Harrod theorize a "neomaterialist"

approach to work, in which social action as related not only to material poverty but also 18 to power relations in the workplace (Harrod, 2006). In terms of women at work, an understanding of the historical context of gender inequality and power relations is essential in studying a global work force. With major increases in female paid labour participation, even in countries like Nepal, where cultural restrictions inhibit it

(Moghadam, 2005), women's (re)productive aspirations and capabilities must be included in theories of work.

Global transformations are reconfiguring gender-based identities and conditions; in fact gender inequality can be considered central in the process of intensified globalization (Bakker & Gill, 2003). Using an Feminist Historical Materialist approach we can analyze the relationships between power and production while including social reproduction, to which women are intrinsically linked (Bakker & Gill, 2003). Bakker and

Gill's interpretation of Feminist Historical Materialist methodology analyzes the historical circumstances that lead to the current state of women's inclusivity in global production (Bakker & Gill, 2003) and the way structures of globalization influence women's labour. Moreover, how these structures frame women's labour as flexible and even appropriate feminist ideology as women increasingly redefine themselves as workers rather than homemakers (Eisenstein, 2009).

These issues are highlighted by the type of work made available to women and how this type of work is represented by neoliberal ideology. For example, neoliberal rhetoric of global production represents the "flexibilization" of production as compatible with gender equality by creating a better balance between work and home life and increased availability of employment through lower production costs in deregulated 19 labour markets (Amoore, 2006; Wichterich, 2002). Fair trade also promotes flexibilization for women by providing home-based piece-rate work, allowing a balance between paid work and unpaid household responsibilities . However, this disguises the negative impacts of flexibilization on women, by replacing problems of access to employment with problems of insecure and unequal employment (Amoore, 2006). Due to flexibilization women receive less-secure and lower-paying home-based jobs in the informal economy, without contracts or social protection; such women are often employed only seasonally or fired before childbirth, so companies can avoid paying maternity leave (Wichterich, 2002).

Neoliberal globalization and its impact on women's work is complex and contradictory. While increasing women's visibility in paid employment, globalization has not improved women's working conditions; they face more competition and sexist violence and are challenged with creating new identities in a culture of consumerism and increasing social inequality (Desai, 2002; Munck, 2002; Wichterich, 2002). In Nepal, gender inequality is still embedded in society, and is perpetuated through religious philosophies and a discriminatory legal system (Mukhopadhyay & Sudarshan, 2003).

Nevertheless, with the increasing impact of globalization in trade and economics, the role of women's paid and unpaid work is changing. However, it remains largely invisible and undervalued; globally, 71% of women work in informal sectors, such as domestic service

or producing goods at home for sale (Desai, 2002). Research carried out in India and

Bangladesh (both similar to Nepal in terms of society and culture) highlights the

2 Personal communication from Nepalese fair trade handicraft workers 20 historically marginal nature of women's home-based work (Singh & Kelle-Vitanen,

1987). This is rapidly changing, however, as women take advantage of the globalizing process to organize and create opportunities to change hegemonic power structures

(Desai, 2002).

The dominant view of globalization happening at an "elevated stage" by markets

and capital is countered by women's actual experience of global transformation

(Wichterich, 2002). By considering the working lives of women in Nepal (as Marx

considered the treatment of the proletariat) through a Feminist Historical Materialist lens,

I assess the positive and negative aspects of women as a "dominated" group and the

"liberatory possibilities contained in that experience" (Hartsock, 1985). Although the

changing nature of women's work has negative impacts, new possibilities are emerging

that create liberatory possibilities for women and work. Desai calls one important

possibility "transnational solidarity networks" (Desai, 2002) of women organizing across

borders to advocate for their rights at work and at home; these new possibilities for local

and global action demonstrate an agency-driven alternative to the seemingly structural

force of globalization (Desai, 2002). Another possibility is women's involvement in fair

trade. By analyzing women's perceptions of and agency in fair trade, I will assess its

effectiveness as a liberatory possibility for women to achieve their (re)productive

aspirations.

This study sees fair trade as a strategy for what Hill (2001) refers to as "work life

improvement and development" or "work life reform." Hill Argues that current work life

reform policy in developing countries is resource-based, like micro-credit, and this is 21 inappropriate for informal sector workers, whose ability to access resources is often limited by the structural exploitation and injustice that shape their work life experience

(Hill, 2001). Hill uses Sen's capability approach to highlight an alternative model to resource-based work life reform. Sen interprets capabilities as a persons freedom to choose resources and implement them effectively, rather than only increased access to them (Hill, 2001; Sen, 1993). Hill asserts that this approach on its own is not sufficient when analyzing workers in the informal sector because it presumes that workers have the

ability to act freely in societies where they are often constrained by dominant cultural and

social institutions (Hill, 2001). As described above and will be developed in the next chapter, this is the case for women working in the handicraft industry in a patriarchal

society like Nepal. Hill uses Honneth's approach to recognition and respect to dealing with work life reform (Hill, 2001). This approach not only acknowledges the importance

of capabilities, but emphasizes the importance of inter subjective conditions that lead to

the self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-respect that leads one to interpret and identify their needs and desires at work (Hill, 2001). Hill applies this approach to analyzing the

effectiveness of the Self-Employed Women's Association in India, a trade union for

women in the informal sector of the Indian economy. She found that the Self-Employed

Women's Association is a more effective alternative to resource based work life reform because it creates an environment where women workers acquire capabilities after

acquiring agency, or the ability to act predicated on self- and interpersonal respect through collective action (Hill, 2001; Littrell & Dickson, 2010).

In Littrell and Dickson's (2010) qualitative study of a fair trade apparel

organization in India, they see fair trade certification as an opportunity to expand on 22

Hill's approach. They found that, unlike Hill's findings with Self-Employed Women's

Association, the fair trade model created the opportunities for capabilities and agency to evolve together (Littrell & Dickson, 2010). However their study did not do an in-depth comparison between fair trade and other work life reforms or conventional work environments in apparel production. Therefore, fair trade may provide certain benefits to producers but what are the costs and limitations to participating in the fair trade industry compared to women's other employment options?

Fair Trade

"Fair trade has become large enough that a lot of people are really craving [to know] what is the systemic impact and what are the trends and evidence of all the varieties of fair trade. Are they working?...Are they helping artisans? And really there has been very little in the way of systemic studies done...The movement is craving real evidence to show what are we gaining from all the effort we are putting in to fair trade?" Jeff Goldman, Executive Director of Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN)

When discussing fair trade, consumers and activist tend to forget that it is not only a

movement but also a private social labeling scheme that designs its own recommendation

for what is fair and how to monitor it. In Seidman's in depth study on social labeling,

Beyond the Boycott (2007) she points out that there are reasons why fair trade coffee

schemes focus on price-per pound for growers rather than monitoring working conditions

on plantations. In order to understand these reasons and if fair trade is an effective and

relevant development intervention there needs to be more in-depth, critical research that

includes the voices of the very people these schemes are meant to benefit. When the

World Fair Trade Organization spends 265,000 Euros in the "first months of 2009" on

branding and communications alone (World Fair Trade Organizations, 2009), and

providing fulltime salaries for over 2,700 employees at fair trade organizations in western 23

countries (Krier, 2007), we must ask is fair trade so valuable to the marginalized workers that it is worth institutionalizing? The only way to find out is by asking the people who it should benefit the most, workers in industries that are affected by being included or excluded from the system. In order to justify this method for research I will critically analyze the evolution of fair trade, and key areas that are under researched.

Fair trade is a loaded term: activists use it to describe a movement toward international trade justice (Low & Davenport, 2005); economists use it to describe specific types of trade policy (J. E. Stiglitz & Charlton, 2005), and consumers associate it with a label placed on products created through a recognised system of regulated

standards (Booth & Whetstone, 2007; Littrell & Dickson, 1999). As a social movement, fair trade began by advancing an alternative to the hegemonic neoliberal approach to trade policy (it was initially called "alternative trade" as in "an alternative to the

dominant system") (Low & Davenport, 2005; Nicholls & Opal, 2005). Arguing that top-

down neoliberal trade policies promoted by international institutions, such as the World

Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization, favour rich countries

and lead to the erosion of human rights, the fair trade approach focuses on creating

ethical labour and trading practices that value human rights above market outcomes

(Oxfam, 2010; World Fair Trade Organization, 2010). The fair trade movement takes

action against the dominant neoliberal trading system through advocacy and the creation

of a market system that endorses production through ethical means (Fairtrade Labelling

Organization, 2010; World Fair Trade Organization, 2010). This led to a corresponding

system of regulation and certification deemed "fair" by the alternative trade community. 24

However, the fair trade community is not unified in their vision for what fair trade actually looks like or what success in fair trade should be. Jonathan Rosenthal from Just

Works consulting splits the fair trade movement into two categories, Transformers and

Reformers (Goldman, et al., 2011). 'Transformers' refers to regulatory bodies like the

World Fair Trade Organization, who provide certification on an organizational level to groups that are 100% committed to fair trade values and through this commitment

'transform' the global trading system. This type of certification usually involves handicraft co-operatives and artisan groups. 'Reformers' refers to organizations like

Fairtrade Labelling Organization, who provide certification on a product level by labeling specific products like coffee or tea that have been produced according to fair trade regulation while still allowing organizations that are not necessarily committed to fair trade, like Wal-Mart, to sell these products. Therefore working from within to 'reform' the global trading system. Rosenthal highlights that there is animosity between these two types of fair trade claiming that the movement has propelled reformers forward, while ignoring the contributions of transformers and their vision for the movement, "We still ourselves have not come up with an embracing theory of what success looks like [in fair trade]" (Goldman, et al., 2011). This divide and lack of vision on the organizational side of fair trade makes it very difficult for producers, consumers and supporters to even understand what fair trade is trying to accomplish.

As Jeff Goldman's quote at the beginning of this section suggests, there is a lack of systemic research on the outcomes of fair trade regulation. In addition, research that has been carried out is inconclusive or does not demonstrate only positive outcomes. In a recent webinar, State of Fair Trade (2011), Jeff Goldman elaborates on this, 25

"Some of the results that were studied [on fair trade] were even mixed, where the economic evidence seemed to have an impact-maybe not as much as some people had hoped, but substantial. But evidence of environmental impacts, or evidence for hired workers or evidence that women are being empowered were just not there and in some cases the evidence that was gathered wasn't even conclusive that it was making a difference."

The few research and impact assessments on fair trade favor the Reformer side, or labeled commodities like coffee and tea, which has initiated a rich critique and debate about the effectiveness of fair trade in this area (for example: Booth, 2004; Booth &

Whetstone, 2007; Hutchens, 2009; Jaffee, 2007; Nicholls & Opal, 2005; Renard, 2003,

2005). However, credible research about the outcomes of fair trade on the Transformer side, or the registering of organizations that are committed to fair trade like handicraft co­ operatives, is lacking. Only two major books focus on the fair trade handicraft industry both by Littrell and Dickson, Social Responsibility in the Global Market: Fair Trade of

Cultural Products (1999) and Artisans and Fair Trade: Crafting Development (2010).

However, their first study deals primarily with organizational and consumer outcomes; the impact fair trade has on workers is described anecdotally. The second study takes an in-depth look at apparel production in one Indian fair trade organization, without comparing the effectiveness of fair trade to non-fair trade or alternative interventions.

In addition, there is a gap in research determining if fair trade is actually achieving its stated goals of fairer trade and improved labour standards for workers. This is illuminated by the disconnection between the language that fair trade organizations and researchers use to define the movement and the outcomes they decide to examine in their research. Below are three definitions of fair trade, the first from Litrell and Dickson on the fair trade handicraft system, the second from the World Fair Trade Organization (the 26 main organization that certifies fair trade handicraft producers), and the third from

Hutchen's book on fair trade and power:

"As a philosophy, fair trade fosters empowerment and improved quality of life for artisan producers through an integrated and sustained system of trade partnerships among producers, retailers, and consumers" (Littrell & Dickson, 1999). "Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade....WFTO's mission is to enable producers to improve their livelihoods and communities through Fair Trade. WFTO will be the global network and advocate for Fair Trade, ensuring producer voices are heard. The interests of producers, especially small farmers and artisans, should be the main focus in all the policies, governance, structures and decision making within the WFTO." (World Fair Trade Organization, 2010).

"Based on alternative trading links between producers and politically active Alternative Trade Organizations (ATOs) in Northern markets, the [Fair Trade] movement has articulated principles that both address market failures affecting marginalized producers' abilities to participate in markets, and construct terms and conditions of international trade that serve producers economic and developmental interests" (Hutchens, 2009).

It is clear from these definitions that the fair trade system claims to be dedicated to the creation of an equal trading space for "marginalized" workers and to improve their circumstances as well.

The fair trade system also specifically targets the empowerment of women as one of their main

development agendas:

"Through Fair Trade, women have the opportunity to realize their full potential: rights are respected; they play their full part in their communities; they are encouraged to take leadership roles; they participate in decision making; they are paid fair wages for the work they do." (World Fair Trade Organization, 2010)

Based on critiques of the fair trade movement made in research about agricultural

commodities, I hypothesize that fair trade is actually oriented to the needs of western consumers

interested in ethical consumption and does not have a perceivable value to their so called

"trading partners" or the marginalized workers, especially women, involved in the system. I

consider fair trade relevant in terms of having an impact on the way workers perceive their work 27 environment, lifestyle, and access to capabilities (Sen, 1999) compared to workers in similar non-fair trade industries. The fair trade language employs terms like: "equal," "partnership," and

"transparency" which are idealistic rather than realistic definitions of what the system does.

Because there is little research in terms of handicraft production, I will summarize the three main critiques of fair trade in the production of commodities as they relate to this hypothesis about the relevance of fair trade to handicraft workers.

First, Beauchelt & Zeller (2011), Booth (2004), Sidwell (2008) point out that fair trade further marginalizes producers that cannot afford to access its system. For example two different

studies, one on fair trade tea in India and another on fair trade coffee in Nicaragua found that fair trade certification was too expensive for most small famers, allowing larger more established farms who can afford the certification to take more of the market share, further marginalizing

small farmers (Beauchelt & Zeller, 2011; Neilson & Pritchard, 2010). Second, because fair

trade's structure is divided between product and organizational certification, it can be co-opted by corporations who buy a small proportion of fair trade products to capture the ethical consumer

purchase, or even come up with their own social labeling scheme to avoid paying fair trade

certification fees, but still operate in conditions that fair trade considers exploitative to workers

(Jaffee, 2007; Low & Davenport, 2005). Third, and most importantly in terms of this study, fair

trade critics are concerned if social labeling and the fair trade premium, paid by the consumer is

actually benefiting workers and improving labour standards (Booth & Whetstone, 2007;

Seidman, 2007).

"Whilst it is clear that fair trade might bring some benefits to particular groups, whether it brings significant net benefits to the poor in general is questionable. Moreover, the claim that fair trade transactions are more 'just' cannot be substantiated. Customers also might be surprised to learn that the majority of the 28

Fairtrade Foundation's net income is spent on promoting its own brand" (Booth & Whetstone, 2007).

This concern is of utmost importance because monitoring standards is expensive, time consuming and notoriously weak in social labeling schemes like fair trade (Seidman, 2007; Solomon, 2011). In an article on fair trade coffee in the Financial Post, Solomon (2011) calls fair trade monitoring,

"Little more then a high priced honor system.. .farmers and middlemen who want to get around the system inevitably do, bagging unearned profits. Those who remain scrupulous and follow the onerous and costly regulations.. .lose out."

The majority of research supporting these critiques takes the form of impact and economic assessments of fair trade prices, premiums and benefits. On its own, this body of research suggests we should strongly rethink our approach to fair trade as a viable solution to inequality and global production. In addition it suggests that more in-depth research is needed in areas like fair trade handicrafts where there is little evidence, beyond anecdotal, that supports fair trade intervention. Therefore, comparative studies into the lives of handicraft producers inside and outside of fair trade is timely and necessary for determining if it is a valuable development intervention for marginalized workers.

Conclusion

Globalization and production are transforming the way we work. Many social theorists consider production the key to understanding social development (Strangleman & Warren, 2008).

However, women's contributions to both paid and unpaid work are missing from classical theory. The current feminization of the global work force and transformation of women's' roles in developing countries are becoming a major concern for contemporary theorists. In 29 conjunction, alternative globalization movements advocate for fairer trade and labour regulation, creating development interventions that address the needs of women workers.

Fair trade is one intervention that has gained a popular following with consumers in high

income countries, by creating a product certification and regulation system for commodities and handicrafts. However, fair trade will have to explicitly address issues of power, privilege, and democracy through in-depth and critical research if it is to remain relevant (Jaffee, 2007). If fair

trade regulation is really valuable and worth the effort it takes to maintain the system it should

stand up when compared to no intervention at all, or to other interventions. How can fair trade

continue to promote itself as valuable to workers without systemic research that includes them,

and compares their situation to workers who are not receiving fair trade intervention? It is time

for us to answer Goodman's question, "What are we gaining from all the effort we are putting in

to fair trade?" Is all this effort worth it for the workers fair trade is trying to support?

This thesis fills a gap in research on the relevance of fair trade in handicraft industries by

addressing major critiques from research on fair trade commodities and comparing the

perceptions women workers have of fair trade. It also makes the agency of women workers and

their experiences the central component of inquiry; addressing concerns in international political

economy scholarship with the invisibility of the global worker and the abstraction of the

globalization process. Hegemonic neoliberal ideology has silenced the voices and experiences of

workers, hindering our understanding of global change (Amoore, 2006). By studying the agency

of workers in a discipline that traditionally theorizes structural forces, such as trade and

capitalism as the main drivers of global transformation, we develop new ways of understanding

changes in global production. By recognizing the agency of women workers and including their 30 perceptions in research, we create more effective and relevant ways of regulating a global workforce. 31

Chapter 3: Introduction to Politics, Handicrafts and Weaving Culture in Nepal

Politics and Development

Nepal is a South Asian country landlocked between India and China (see map 1). Although under researched, T. Louise Brown (1996) characterizes Nepal's formation and history though three interrelated processes: in-migration of Indo-Aryan peoples from the west and south, slow

Hinduisation of the population and the political consolidation of the territory ruled through

Kathmandu. The other group of people to successively settle in Nepal came from the north and east, of Tibeto-Burman descent (Brown, 1996). The Indo-Aryan people migrated eastward and established control over various parts of the territory through conquest and intermarriage, spreading Hinduism among tribal societies as they went (Brown, 1996). In the mid-eighteenth century, Prithvi Narayan Shah, the ruler of Gorkha, a small kingdom in central Nepal, politically unified the country through a number of conquests (Brown, 1996). When the British East India

Company colonized India, Nepal's sovereignty was threatened. The renowned Gorkha army was able fend off the British East India Company between 1814-1816 and although eventually defeated, Nepal was never colonized, instead giving up large areas of land to the British in The

Treaty of Sugauli (Brown, 1996).

Ecologically, Nepal can be divided into three zones: mountains, hills and terai (marshy grasslands). Over 90% of the population lives in the hill and terai zones (Mukhopadhyay &

Sudarshan, 2003). This vast geographical and ecological diversity partnered with underdeveloped infrastructure makes communication and transportation around the country is extremely difficult (Bienen, Kapur, Parks & Riedinger, 1990). According to development

indices, Nepal is one of poorest countries in the world economically, ranking 129th on the UN 32

Human Development Index (Hosni & Lundberg, 2005). Eighty-seven percent of its 24 million citizens live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihood (Sharma, 2006). Agriculture and the service industry comprise 33% and 52% respectively of the GDP and 75% of the labor force is employed in agriculture (CIA, 2011). Poverty, social inequality and underdevelopment in Nepal can be attributed to many factors, but two overarching causes are mismanagement of rural development and long-term civil and political unrest.

Shrestha (1997) attributes underdevelopment and poverty in Nepal to poor rural development policies that commercialized peasant farming eroding social norms and creating outside dependence through the introduction of farming technology and chemical fertilizers. This strategy has led to what he refers to as "land alienation" or the lessening of "social access to land and per capita land availability." Households in Nepal contain an average of 6 people who depend on subsistence agriculture yet can only access less than a hectare of land, which is not enough to produce food to live (Shrestha, 1997). This alienates people from the land, which is traditionally the basis of their lifestyle and culture, leading to a sense of "rootlessness" and fear among the peasant population (Shrestha, 1997). Bienen, Kapur, Parks & Riedinger (1990) estimate that low crop yields due to various economic, social and political factors in agricultural planning have led to chronic shortfalls in food consumption. These issues facing rural Nepalese society, which accounts for 87% of the population, are the main drivers behind the civil unrest that has plagued the country for years.

Over the past 20 years Nepal has been fraught with civil unrest. Most notably, the Maoist insurgency that began in the 1990's and continues even after a Maoist prime minister was elected in 2008 (Yami, 2010). The unrest began in response to the government declining development expenditure in rural areas in the late eighties, making it difficult for the rural population to access 33 public goods and employment (Sharma, 2006). In 1990 when the Maoists failed to secure enough votes in the parliamentary elections their leadership abandoned the Nepalese democratic system, rejected the constitution and began recruiting unemployed youth from rural areas into their army, declaring a Peoples War in Feb 1996 (Sharma, 2006).

Unlike civil unrest in nearby developing countries such as Afghanistan, driven by ethnic or religious tension, the unrest in Nepal is largely a reaction to corrupt leadership that has mismanaged development (Sharma, 2006). Blaikie, Cameron & Seddon (2002) highlight several

specific ways leadership has mismanaged development that has led to political instability and ongoing civil unrest: the inability of the state to transcend its feudal characteristics; the

incapacity of the state by foreign aid, encouragement of corrupt and authoritarian decision

making; the flooding of Nepalese markets with Indian industrial commodities; failure to invest in

manufacturing; and the ruling classes manipulation of trade and transit agreements with India.

Democratic politics was introduced in Nepal in 1991, however the monarchy continually

undermined the people's aspirations for democracy by assuming absolute power twice in 2002

and 2005 (BBC, 2011). In 2008 the monarchy was overthrown and Nepal became a republic

(BBC, 2011). In the most recent elections to form an assembly to re-write the Nepalese

constitution in April 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) ran as a legitimate political

party and won half the seats chosen by the first-past-the post system and gained 30% of the votes

for seats given by proportional representation (Mishra, 2008). However, the country has been rife

with instability since the elections as parties compete for power, continually delaying the

constitution building process. Since the elections, the constitution drafting process has been

delayed twice. It was supposed to be completed in April 2010, but was postponed for another

year, and was just postponed again for three months (Chapagain, 2011). 34

This study is concerned with another characteristic of instability and a major part of the

People's War; combating gender discrimination in Nepalese law and society (Yami, 2010).

Socially women are constrained by cultural and religious norms, taboos and traditional household duties with added agricultural or production responsibilities as male out migration increases (Mukhopadhyay & Sudarshan, 2003). Although legal reformation is ongoing in Nepal, gender inequality has been perpetuated through discriminatory laws that limit women's rights in marriage/divorce, property and inheritance (Mukhopadhyay & Sudarshan, 2003). These two problems have limited women's capacity to pursue education and employment opportunities, deepening the effects that increased poverty and underdevelopment has on women.

There are a number of challenges to studying gender and work in Nepal. Firstly there is a widespread informal sector (Acharya, 2008) and data regarding gender relations and employment are difficult to obtain (International Labeling Organization, 2007). Reliable statistical data on work is sparser in Nepal than in other developing countries and does not include gender- disaggregated data (Acharya, 2008). However, in 1997 the Central Department of Population

Studies collected data that highlights the nature of women's work in Nepal: 7% of women are employed in paid jobs, 30% in various income earning activities and 63% are involved in unpaid family work (Mukhopadhyay & Sudarshan, 2003). There are a number of labour market disadvantages for women in Nepal that are perpetuated by gender discrimination. Since they are less educated and less skilled, they have fewer opportunities for employment and lower remunerated jobs (Mukhopadhyay & Sudarshan, 2003). Discrimination in the legal system, such as, women not having ownership rights, prevent them from achieving there full potential economically (Subedi, 1997) 35

Many development initiatives have targeted gender discrimination in the legal system and at work. Their impact has been limited because discrimination is perpetuated religiously and cultural (Subedi, 1997). Fair trade is one development initiative that is targeting the empowerment of women in Nepal. One fair trade member organization describes their primary goal as "provid[ing] handicraft-related skills training to poor, unfortunate Nepalese women so that they may become self-supportive" (WSDP, 2011). Many of these fair trade craft jobs in

Nepal are home-based. This means that the providers of work (or fair trade organizations) give them instructions from a central facility and the women work on these orders from home. This

type of home-based work is ambiguous under national and international labour regulation (Prugl

& Tinker, 1997).

Map 1: Nepal, arrows designate the districts where research was conducted 36

Handicraft Production in South Asia

The importance of handicraft production for economic development is an issue for developing countries as globalization increases and more and more people begin to rely on manufactured goods (Liebl & Roy, 2004; Littrell & Dickson, 2010). There are very few detailed studies of the impact of handicrafts on economic and social development in Nepal. However there are a number of studies from India, which although much larger is geographically and culturally, is similar to Nepal. In an analysis on craft production in India, Liebl and Roy (2004) describe handicrafts as products made through manual labour with minimal input from machines, requiring a substantial level of skill or expertise, a significant element of tradition and history of survival on a significant scale. As I will describe later, various types of textile weaving are traditional and have been practiced in the Nepal for generations. However there is a debate in economic development whether this type of industry can survive as the mechanization of production continues.

Liebl and Roy (2004) argue that the problem handicraft industries face is less about competition with mechanized production and more about finding ways for handicraft industries to benefit from growth in international and domestic tourism and spending on interior decoration.

However, government officials do not consider the potential the handicraft industry has when making major policy decisions. When India, like Nepal, joined the World Trade Organization there was no consideration that Intellectual Property Rights regulation are incomprehensible to most handicraft producers, who have suffered immensely from appropriation (Chatterjee, 2007).

Instead these officials treat the handicraft industry as a hobby industry, "a free time" activity for housewives to supplement their household income that is not economically important

(Chatterjee, 2007; Littrell & Dickson, 2010). Although the conception of the handicraft industry 37 as a free time or hobby activity for women is often true , it does not diminish the significance it has on the economy through flexible employment, especially for women, and the additional household income needed to increase people's capabilities. According to Liebl and Roy handicraft production accounted for close to 9 million jobs in India during 1999-2000 (Liebl &

Roy, 2004). Hossain (1987) also emphasizes the handicraft industry in Bangladesh as "an easy non-competitive point of entry" to work for women as the need for having dual-income households or women-headed households increases. The major challenge for governments is to create appropriate policy to strengthen these industries and harness their power as a development tool.

Littrell and Dickson (2010) study the potential of the fair trade movement to promote the handicraft industry and support apparel producers in India. Their results have some similarities and some critical differences with the findings of this study, which I will discuss in the next chapter. When analyzing policy related to handicraft production and home-based work scholars have identified a number of important considerations. For example, Hossain (1987) cautions that many capitalist policies over domestic manufacturing have drawn women into production but constrain their opportunities for decent work by taking advantage of excess labour and offering only cheap or seasonal or part-time work. Leibl and Roy (2004) note that since the 1990's

India's approach to developing the handicraft industry has switched from protection to workers capability enhancement and suggests the following areas should be addressed to improve policy

in this direction: research and documentation on linkages between handicraft culture and development, coordination of services for handicraft producers; development of 'Brand Image';

3 Many textile weavers I interviewed described their jobs this way. Other studies also note that handicraft producers often describe their work as a leisure or free time activity after housework is finished or when kids go to school. See Hossain (1987) and Littrell and Dickson (2010). 38 development of new market channels; raw material resource renewal; and enhancement of status

of craftsperson's. These considerations, as well as issues of development, gender and work, are

important when assessing the effectiveness of regulation in the handicraft industry. The next

section will place these issues in the context of Nepal by introducing weaving culture in the areas

where I conducted research.

Weaving in Nepal

The first written record of weaving textiles in Nepal dates back to the 2nd century AD (Ranjan,

2011). While weaving is an important traditional industry in Nepal, design and production is

continuously modernizing in order to keep up with changing tastes and styles in international and

domestic markets. The Nepalese carpet industry is one of the most popular weaving industries

and has gained international recognition, with an estimated 100,000 employees in the carpet

weaving industry4. It also was one of the first handicraft industries to develop ethical production

and labeling through Nepal Rugmark Foundation in 1995 (Nepal RugMark Foundation, 2011).

My research focuses on two styles of textile weaving called "Treadle loom" and "Back

Strap loom" weaving5 (see images 3 and 4). Both these types of weaving are traditional to Nepal

and have been practiced in different regions of the country for generations. However both have

taken on modern styles and designs that cater to changing local and international tastes. I

conducted this research in three popular weaving districts: Palpa, Kaski and Kathmandu Valley

(see map 1). The history of each type of weaving has not been well documented but through

interviews and other studies of weaving in Nepal I was able to piece together a number of

histories that lend meaning to the perceptions weavers have of the social value of their work.

4 Retrieved from http://www.ruqmark.ora.uk/about-ruqmark/ruamark-in-nepal.shtml on Feb. 18th 2011. 5 These names come from Susi Dunsomore's book Weaving in Nepal (1983). 39

The most important change in weaving in Nepal is the import of a style from Bangladesh called "Dhaka" which is made on a treadle loom. There are conflicting stories as to how Dhaka weaving came to Nepal, but the weavers I interviewed in Palpa claimed it was brought to Nepal by the former head of the district in the 1960's:

"At first Dhaka [weaving] was made in Bangladesh and a few pieces would be imported here and the royalty or rich people would wear it... the owner of our shop, Ganesh Man Singh went to Bangladesh and saw how they were making the Dhaka cloth and decided he could create that industry in Nepal. He saw a Dhaka Topi in the market place and how expensive it was so he decided to make it here instead of importing. Within a year he learned how to make it and started production and was able to make it so much cheaper. That was 52 years ago. He named the fabric "Dhaka" after the capital of Bangladesh where it came from...the topi (hat) that has become so famous, the shape is traditional to Nepal its very old but the Dhaka pattern is from Bangladesh." (Manager of the first Dhaka weaving factory in Palpa)

When I interviewed the manager of a company that imports Dhaka to Japan who claims to have been researching Dhaka for many years, he told me a different version of the history of Dhaka weaving in Nepal:

"We are also looking for the right history. Many people say the problems with Bangladesh with partition brought many Bangladeshi people to Nepal. They came here because the language is very similar. When they came here they were making weaving like this and the king supported it and started wearing it."

In Weaving in Nepal (1983) Susi Dunsmore notes the history of the name Dhaka, in regards to the woven cloth is obscure and speculates that

"..the fine texture of Dhaka cloth suggests similarities to the famous "Dhaka muslin". Others believe that the name was given to the cloth simply because many items like cloth or thread came to Nepal through Dhaka"

Most of the weavers we spoke to gave a similar history of Dhaka as the manager of the first

Dhaka weaving factory in Palpa. Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that Dhaka has become an important part of Nepalese culture and tradition. 40

Image 2: King Gyanendra wearing a Palpali Dhaka Topi. Photo by Reuters: Gopal

Chitraker, file photo.6

6 Retreived (May 14th, 2011) from http://www.abc.net.aU/news/stories/2008/06/10/2269669.htm?section=world, 41

Image 3: Traditional Backstrap Loom R- SI

Image 4: Treadle loom with J-card 42

I chose three districts, of the many places where weaving is practiced, to conduct interviews. There are only 2 areas, The Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara that practice both fair trade and non-fair trade weaving so I included those areas in order to get a comparative sample. I chose the third area, Palpa, because it is the birthplace of Dhaka, and maintains a strong influence on weaving culture.

Palpa

Palpa is a district in Western Nepal (see map 1), with headquarters in Tansen, a well-known area throughout the country for its legacy in traditional arts, in particular hand weaving (Karki, 2008).

At one time a commercial centre for north-south trade between India and Tibet, since the construction of a highway connecting Butwal and Pokhara most of the population now relies on small industries such as weaving to survive (Karki, 2008). This region was particularly important to include in this study because it is one of the most famous regions for hand weaving in Nepal and, as some histories suggest, was the first region to produce Dhaka cloth. 'Palpali' Dhaka has become a cultural icon through out the country. Most notably, Dhaka is used to make the Nepali

"Topi" or hat that is often worn by government officials and the royal family,7it also is commonly used to make shawls, clothes, bags, curtains. All the weavers I interviewed in this zone make "Dhaka" cloth for the domestic market; there were no fair trade organizations in the area.

Pokhara

Pokhara is the capital of the Kaski district (see map 1), a well-known tourist area that serves as a starting point for many popular treks in the Annapurna range. It also is well known for domestic

7 See image 1 of former King Gyanendra wearing the hat 43

tourism, being a popular Nepalese honeymoon destination (Norman, 1999). In this district,

Gurung people, traditionally herdsmen of Tibet-Burman and Indo-Aryan descent, used back

strap looms to weave blankets and clothing from cotton and wool fibres (WSDP, 2011).

Although contemporary woven products are different, the traditional loom is still being used by

Gurung people and other groups in the area to weave for international export. I interviewed

women from Pokhara and surrounding villages who described this type of weaving being

practiced by their ancestors for generations:

"This weaving is very old, Gurung people have been doing this weaving for generations...at the beginning the Gurung's invented this weaving but now a days anyone can do it...traditionally people made clothes [bangra] that are white color....they made the typical Gurung dress" (Nirmala, back strap weaver, FT, Pokhara)

Although weaving for a local market or personal use was often described as obsolete due to

cheaper manufactured clothing imports, a few weavers described a revival in traditional hand-

woven clothing:

"New fashion is coming in the market and people don't want to wear traditional clothing anymore-before we didn't have money to buy those new clothes and we had to weave our own...there is a place in Pokhara now where they make handmade traditional clothes that people will but for festivals and cultural events...nowadays it is fashionable to show off your cultural dress so people like to wear it on special occasions. It wasn't like this for a while but now it is fashionable again to wear your cultural dress." (Deepti, Backstrap weaver FT, Pokhara).

The weaving industry in Pokhara is comprised of three non-profit organizations whose

primary goal is to provide skill development and employment to women in the area. The largest

organization, FTPokhara, based in Pokhara, is a member of the World Fair Trade Organization

and the only organization in the area that is fair trade. The organization began in 1979 as a

training centre for women, became a member of fair trade in 2003 and currently employs around 44

360 women all over the district. The other two organizations (Nftl and Nft2) were established later and are smaller employing 30 and 12 women respectively. The directors of all three organizations described a rivalry in the industry, with the director of FTPokhara complaining that the other organizations were copying their product design and the directors of Nftl and Nft2 claiming that FTPokhara was trying to push them out of the market and prevent them from opening shops in the area and getting fair trade status.

"This project does not depend on any outside organization but now we are having problems with the market because other organizations [Nftl and Nft2] are copying our products for cheaper but they don't have the same quality....The places that are not fair trade are very small just a few ladies sitting at lakeside weaving....they weave a lot and very fast and don't get paid a good wage and their quality is not very good....people are always questioning why our products are so expensive and we have to show them our process and where we spend all our money." (Director of FTPokhara).

"FTPokhara is the only one doing fair trade here and they have a hold on this market. They are preventing others from getting the logo. They have been coming here trying to close our shop...saying we can't do the business....That Didi9 [Director of FTPokhara] she doesn't have to pay for the land there because it is government land and her husband worked for the [town development office] so he is a high up man and he used his power to try and stop our program...now they have seen my program and how I have made a good business and they are emailing me and asking me to join with them...they still don't want me to market and sell my things in Pokhara." (Director of Nftl, Pokhara) "In Nepal whoever has power they get all the jobs. [The director of FTorgs's] husband he works for [town development office] so he was able to get the land from the government into her name. We got a letter to make ourselves Fair Trade and we put in the paper but got rejected because there was another organization that had it already, because her husband is powerful we couldn't get it." (Director of Nft2, Pokhara)

"We have been to the FTPokhara office and we couldn't get a job there so we decided to get our own training and got a community board and registered our own organization. Then the FTPokhara went to the police station and told us we couldn't do the business." (Board member and weaver for Nft2, Pokhara)

These figures came from and interview with the director of the organization 9 'Didi' is a term of respect meaning big sister 45

These quotes demonstrate how complicated the industry has become in light of outside intervention from fair trade. It has created a heightened sense of market competition between three organizations that are non-profit and working towards the same development goal- skill training and employment for women. As reviewed in chapter 2, a common problem with fair trade regulation is that it rewards larger more well established organizations, in this case

FTPokhara, while further marginalizing smaller organizations that are probably more in need of support.

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal and the Kathmandu Valley is one of the most densely populated areas of the country (KMC, 2011). I conducted interviews in three major areas of the valley: Kathmandu; Kirtipur; and Bhaktapur. Although Kathmandu is the most economically developed urban centre in Nepal (KMC, 2011) both Kirtipur and Bhaktapur are famous ancient cities, well known as tourist destinations and for their handicraft industries. The Newar people

are the dominant cultural group in the valley and many people I interviewed in these areas only

spoke Newari. Traditionally Newari people are known as highly skilled artisans and merchants who interacted with many surrounding cultures to form unique artistic expressions (Norton,

2005) and the history of weaving that participants described to me reflected this. Most weavers described growing up in a household with a loom and watching their parents and grandparents weaving for personal use:

"50 years ago every home had a loom and they made things for themselves. At that time there was no imported clothes" (Champa, FT, KTM).

"For 200 hundred years this looms existed. Over the years it was a little bit modified, My grandmother used to use the old loom like you see in framed picture...the name of the loom is "tanga" (Shanti, FT, KTM) 46

They also described how new techniques and designs were imported into the area, especially

Palpali Dhaka:

"They used to weave traditional Newari sari and other traditional clothes...Dhaka has been in Bhaktapur for 20-30 years maybe. I'm not sure...Since I was small I saw people making Dhaka. They made Palpali Dhaka with white strings." (Sajani, Nft, KTM)

"While my brother was in Narayan Ghat making bricks he learned how to make Palpali Dhaka there...then he came back and taught me how to do it." (Leena, Nft, KTM)

All three regions have rich weaving traditions; Palpa developed weaving most recently but has the strongest local market. While Pokhara and The Kathmandu Valley have practiced weaving for generations, weavers find themselves adapting to newer styles that suit local and international consumers changing tastes. The most interesting weaving industry in terms of development and fair trade intervention is Pokhara, as no other area demonstrated any competitiveness between fair trade and non-fair trade organizations.

The reason we did not see this in Palpa is because there were no fair trade organizations there. However, the relationships between the various weaving industries that participants described did not seem to be competitive. Participants often claimed they moved between different industries or got trained at a large industry and branched off to start their own home business.

"I learned weaving at Palpali Dhaka Industry...I left Palpali Dhaka Industry a long time ago. Maybe 19 years ago. I took a long break and then moved to this industry...It's easier to work here because its closer to my house and my children are near by...Palpali Dhaka Industry was a good place to work though." (Sheba, nft, home-based factory)

There is also a much larger variety of working situations in Palpa. For example, women worked at large centrally located factories; many started their own individual businesses at home 47 or opened up a small factory at their home where they would employ their friends or family.

Since the market was created around a niche cultural product that is supported by the government and army who regularly order Palpali Dhaka items and promote them, there is consistent and sustainable demand.

In Kathmandu, the export handicraft market, both fair trade and non-fair trade, is well established and diverse. The Kathmandu Valley was the first area to have fair trade handicraft organizations and 13 of the 17 members of Fair Trade Group Nepal (FTGN)10, established in

1996, are based there (FTGN, 2011). However, there are so many artisans in the area that supply both fair trade and non-fair trade industries simultaneously that it is difficult to tell the difference between them. Many fair trade organizations in Nepal contract their orders to already established groups of artisans, blurring the lines between a fair trade and non-fair trade work environment.

There is a practical purpose for doing this. The fair trade market is volatile and seasonal, and artisans need to be able to sell their products through non-fair trade industries to fill the gap. For example, one non-fair trade industry where I conducted interviews in Bhaktapur, previously

supplied a fair trade organization, but has not received any orders from them in the past few years.

"Before we used to provide to Mahaguthi [fair trade organization] but their market of Dhaka is going down so we haven't gotten any orders from them lately...We are still getting good orders from other businesses even though Mahaguthi doesn't order anymore."(Sarita, nft, Bhaktapur)

Since Kathmandu is a tourist and expatriate hub with rich artisan traditions, it is easily accessible to foreigners who want to import handicrafts. However this is not the case in Pokhara.

Though a popular tourist destination it is not near an international airport and attracts less people

10 FTGN is a consortium of all organizations in Nepal who are members of the WFTO 48

interested in handicraft export. This explains why FTPokhara did not become a member of

World Fair Trade Organization until 2003 at the suggestion of an OXFAM volunteer,"only after the organization had been well established since the 1970's when it opened as a training centre, becoming a registered Non-Governmental Organization in the 1990's.

FTPokhara is well known for taking the traditional style of back strap weaving and

making modern style bags with innovative designs. Their website credits these designs, which

opened them up to an international market, to volunteers from established organizations in the

UK, Japan and the USA. None of these volunteers were affiliated with WFTO and the only

benefits the organization mentions they got from fair trade status was increased market access12,

the social benefits had already been established and practiced for years before they became fair

trade. However, the increased market advantage from fair trade, which led to the popularization

of the innovative new designs, created animosity between FTPokhara and other grassroots

women's skill development initiatives trying to establish themselves. As demonstrated by the

comments from the managers of these organizations, the fact that the smaller initiatives could not

gain access to fair trade membership and were threatened for using a style popularized by

FTPokhara made this weaving market particularly competitive.

This chapter provides a glimpse into politics, development, gender and work in Nepal,

with a particular focus on the handicraft and weaving industries in the areas where I conducted

this study. These issues are essential in understanding the cultural context that the participants in

this study live in and the social structures that influence their daily lives and work environments.

As demonstrated, each place where I collected data has a unique weaving culture and this will

11 As reported by the director in our interview 12 As reported on the organizations website 49 have an impact on how participants perceive their work environments. From the national pride of Palpali Dhaka to the competitive nature of backstrap weaving in Pokhara, the diversity of work in the Nepalese weaving industry is immense, providing a exceptional canvass for phenomenological study of fair trade handicrafts. 50

Chapter 4: Research Methodology

In-depth interviews are rarely the only source of data in research (Johnson, 2002). I chose to conduct interviews to explore perspectives I developed through my own years of participation in the fair trade industry in both Canada and Nepal. The handicraft industry in Nepal is important in terms of women's empowerment, and fair trade handicraft organizations there specifically target women's employment as one of their main objectives (Biggs & Lewis, 2009). In addition, women's lives and traditional roles in Nepal are changing quickly as the country becomes increasingly affected by global integration, and many women are moving towards paid employment outside the home (Mukhopadhyay & Sudarshan, 2003). I wanted to understand this transition from the perspective of women workers. Therefore, interviewing women weavers in both fair trade and non-fair trade industries is an ideal way to explore theories about the legitimacy of fair trade in this region and larger issues of women's participation in paid work in relation to development.

I drew from feminist methodology to design my interviews because the study specifically acknowledges the unique perspectives and experiences women have on social issues-especially in a highly patriarchal society like Nepal (Mukhopadhyay & Sudarshan, 2003). Since the purpose of this study fit so naturally in the realm of feminist research, the interview process was guided by its principles; generating problematics from women's experiences and explanations of social phenomena from a women's perspective-not from the perspective of those who have power to control or manipulate women (Chase & Bell, 1994). Specifically, I approached women as "subjects of their experiences rather than as objects of research" (Chase & Bell, 1994). As mentioned earlier women weavers are agents in global production or experts on their experiences and I conducted interviews using open-ended questions along thematic lines rather than a 51 structured format, allowing what's important to the participants to come through rather than my own preconceived notions (Chase & Bell, 1994).

Through the broad scope of narrative research I drew from a variety of methods such as, global ethnography and phenomenology. This study is partly global ethnography because it explores the relationship between what Burawoy refers to as "external forces, connections, and imaginations" of fair trade and non-fair trade weaving (Burawoy, 2000). The weavers

"imaginations" of their daily lives combined with a broad understanding of the economic political situation in their regions demonstrates how "external forces" like capitalism, globalization and fair trade create global "connections" between people, organization and communities. In order to capture these "imaginations", the instrument of this study is the narrative interview, which draws out weavers' perceptions of their work environments.

Therefore this study is also rooted in phenomenology, as it is mainly concerned with the experiences of fair trade as perceived by producers inside and outside the system (Creswell,

2007).

This chapter describes the data collection process. I begin with how participants were

selected and the ethical and cultural issues that were considered in the process. Then I will explain how the interviews were designed and carried out in field.

Sample

Data collection was conducted from June-August 2010, in the three regions of Nepal as discussed in the previous chapter: Palpa, Pokhara, and Kathmandu Valley.13 In each region,

specific areas were chosen in order to conduct interviews covering both rural and urban settings.

These areas ranged from small villages to central towns to well developed urban centers and

13 See map 1 to identify the regions 52 were chosen because women in the area either practice weaving traditionally and practice weaving through fair trade and/or non-fair trade organizations. I carried out the interviews with the help of a Nepalese interpreter, Utsav Shrestha, who translated the interviews, made travel arrangements and assisted in finding participants. I conducted a total of 57 interviews between

June and Aug 2010, 50 with weavers and seven with managers and business owners in the handicraft industry. Since many areas where I planned to conduct interviews lack reliable communication technology it was difficult to secure participants before I arrived in Nepal. In order to accommodate the difficulty in arranging interviews in advance I used an opportunistic snowball sample, by identifying and approaching participants through contacts and networks I found in each region (Creswell, 2007).

As I began approaching participants I decided to keep the criteria for choosing participants broad for two reasons. First, many women weavers in these areas were extremely shy, not used to sharing their opinions, or even being spoken to directly (many would not make eye contact, would giggle nervously instead of answering questions). This made it very difficult to find participants at all. Second, people engaged in weaving in these regions do so through a vast array of situations: from their home, in a village weaving cooperative or at a central production facility. They participate in weaving as a part-time job while they go to school or raise children or full time as primary income earners for their household. If I narrowed our criteria too much I would not have been able to find enough participants to get a large enough sample. Therefore, my primary criterion was that participants were currently engaged in or recently retired from weaving as an economic activity for a year or more through fair trade or non-fair trade streams. Moreover, they had to live in one of the three districts I chose and they needed to independently consent to doing the interview. On three occasions I also interviewed 53 men who ran weaving production facilities or businesses. Although these interviews are not part of the data analysis, they provided important context and a rich descriptive history for weaving in

Nepal. There also were occasions where I interviewed women in their homes and non-weaving family members would casually join us offering interesting opinions about weaving culture and

its context in their household and community. Some interviews were held in groups. My

interpreter and I decided that although this may have impacted the participants responses, it is

important to allow these interruptions to occur organically or risk making the participant feel uncomfortable, unnatural or disrespected, affecting their responses even more.

After arriving in Kathmandu in early June I began recruiting participants. My interpreter

and I met with my in-country supervisor from the Himalayan Institute of Development. He

introduced us to our first contact, the owner of a small weaving business in Palpa. This contact

allowed us to visit one of his suppliers, where we were able to interview two weavers. He also

introduced us to a variety of shop owners in the district who were happy to put us in contact with

their weaving producers as well. Since weaving is a major industry in the district of Palpa it is

common to see women weaving outside their houses or meet people who have a friend or

relative who weaves. It was through these personal inquiries with people in different

communities that I was able to find interview participants that weaved from home, owned their

own small businesses or weaved from remote village production facilities. In Palpa we ended up

conducting 27 interviews; two with male managers of weaving businesses and 25 with non-fair

trade female weavers including three weavers that own their own home businesses. I could not

interview any fair trade weavers in this region because no fair trade organization presently

employ weavers from this district. 54

In Pokhara we found participants in a similar manner, however the weaving industry there is dominated by one major fair trade organization. Once we got in touch with them we had access to over a hundred weavers they employ. The non-fair trade weavers I found through shops and production facilities located in the tourist district. Although fair trade weaving has a large presence in this area, we found it difficult to get a diverse sample, as most participants were somehow employed or connected to the same fair trade organization. We ended up conducting

17 interviews in Pokhara; 12 with fair trade weavers and 5 non-fair trade weavers. The fair trade weavers all came from the same organization and included a former weaver who is now the director of the organization. The two non-fair trade organizations where I conducted interviews

are both Non-Governmental Organization's and I interviewed one weaver with her own home weaving business.

In the Kathmandu Valley I conducted 12 interviews; 4 in fair trade organizations and 8 in non-fair trade organizations. The fair trade interviews were collected from weavers from one of

the largest fair trade organizations in Nepal. The non-fair trade interviews came from two

different organizations, one of which is interested in getting fair trade status and the other used to

produce for fair trade but does not anymore because the fair trade organization stopped ordering

from them.

Due to the nature of fair trade in Nepal we ended up finding more participants from non-

fair trade, as there are only 3-4 fair trade organizations directly involved with weaving and these

organizations are limited to the Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, where fair trade organizations

are based. However, since weaving is a traditional handicraft in Nepal it is possible to find

hundreds of weaving businesses both large and small all over the country. In order to engage in

comparing fair trade and non-fair trade workers, I chose the only two regions that have central 55 fair trade organizations and Palpa, a region that is relatively close to the others with a traditional, well developed and economically significant local weaving industry.

The interviews were conducted either at participants' home (if they had a home-based weaving facility) or at a central production facility. Please see pictures 5 and 6 as examples of what typical home-based and central production facilities look like in this region. The interviews ranged anywhere from five minutes to two and half hours depending on the participants comfort level. We also conducted interviews in groups because many women felt uncomfortable speaking to us alone. We found the group interviews to be much more rich with data because the women would often converse with each other, exchanging opinions that would not have come up in a one-on-one interview. Participants also seemed more confident and open in a group, feeling comfortable to ask us questions and conversing in a more natural manner. Based on this experience we allowed participants to choose the place they would like be interviewed; usually outside of the production facility, or their home and sometimes sitting at their loom while they worked. Since they usually chose a very public area and I am visibly foreign, we would often have family members, coworkers or other community members interrupting the interviews to find out what we were doing or to participate in the conversation. These novel moments

increased the richness of the interview process and facilitated discussions that were important to the community and the participant. 56

Picture 5: Home-based facility Picture 6: Central "traditional" facility

Ethics Protocol

Since I conducted in-depth interviews with human participants, I received ethics approval from

the University of Calgary's Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board in April 2010. As part of

this process I developed a consent form that was translated to Nepalese that all participants had

to read or have read to them and either sign or finger print (for participants that could not read or

write).

Having lived in Nepal and developed an understanding for Nepalese culture and women's

issues I made sure to conduct interviews that respected local protocol as well. This included 57 hiring an interpreter who spoke Nepalese and Newari (a common local language in the regions we visited) and conducting interviews in public areas, in groups or with their family present.

Instrument: Interviewing

Interviews were used to illicit analytical responses from participants in order to understand their feelings, opinions and perceptions of their work environment and the context for which their work exists and is perpetuated. Like Neilson and Pritchard's study of the regional dynamics of fair trade, the purpose of collecting these narratives is to understand how fair trade "insinuates

itself in [a] regional production system" (Neilson & Pritchard, 2010). More broadly this method of interviewing can be categorized within interpretive social science as an "in depth" or

"narrative" interview. The purpose of the narrative interview is to discover the expressed

experiences of participants (Creswell, 2007). In order to facilitate the expression of the

experience of the weavers it was important to ensure the interview was open-ended and semi-

structured, meaning that the interview was structured around thematic lines rather than fixed

questions. The intention was to create space for participants to talk as much or as little as they

felt comfortable around themes that related to work and have the participants drive the interview

in directions they felt were important (see figure 1 below for the themes comprising the

interview).

However, there were many instances where this method was challenged and adapted to

accommodate participants. I found some women that I interviewed to be extremely shy, many had never met a foreigner face-to-face, some had never been asked questions so directly, others

could not understand why we wanted to talk to them using excuses like "I have no education,

maybe you should ask the manager" or "I don't know anything, why do you want to talk to me?"

Reinharz and Chase (2002) note that when interviewing women there is a complex task of 58 interpreting their silence or speech that requires an understanding of her social location, place within a community, cultural constraints and resources that shape her everyday circumstances.

For most participants in this study, the interview was a new social situation and it often took a lot of effort for these women to "find their voice" (Reinharz & Chase, 2002). I dealt with these situations by asking more direct questions, or questions that involved concrete or yes and no answers. Mr. Shrestha, my interpreter, was able to adapt questions and themes to ensure they were culturally appropriate, in some cases using words from local dialects, and ensuring I approached participants and engaged with them in culturally appropriate ways. Once the participant became more comfortable they would usually converse more naturally and if they remained uncomfortable or unresponsive to open ended questioning I would end the interview.

Translation

The interviews were conducted in Nepalese and Newari. I have good conversational Nepalese but had Mr. Shrestha present during the interviews, as we would be encountering many different

accents and dialects. I felt an interpreter would ensure questions were asked appropriately and

could be easily modified to accommodate participants' comfort levels. There were seven

interviews conducted using a female interpreter, Ms. Indira Rana Magar. There were cases where

Mr. Shrestha did not feel comfortable with the local language and to test if the participants felt

more comfortable with a female interpreter. After these interviews it became clear through the

similarity between participants' responses and body language, that the sex of the interpreter did

not have a perceivable influence on the interview.

Since most participants have low levels of formal education and many had never spoken

to a foreigner before I also felt a Nepalese interpreter would help make the participant feel at

ease. Mt. Shretha and I worked together on translating the interviews and capturing the essence 59 of what participants were trying to communicate. This presented challenges because as the interviews proceeded we were constantly adjusting our questions to make them more culturally relevant, some questions or concepts did not make sense to certain participants depending on where they were located (urban/rural) and their level of education and comfort. It also took away from the flow of the interview as the participant had to pause for Mr. Shrestha to translate. After we finished conducting the interviews I decided not have them transcribed as I felt that it would be too difficult to understand the intended meaning of the participant without hearing their tone and vocal infections.

Method of Analysis

As a phenomenological study of fair trade the purpose of the qualitative interviews are to collect participants' experiences and contrast them to the objective reality of fair trade (Creswell, 2007).

The interviews I carried out valued the participants as "meaning makers" rather than passive

conduits of information (Warren, 2002). I was guided by themes that are important in global

production and fair trade debates while allowing producers, who are often silenced or left out of

the conversation, to express how these issues effect their working lives.

As outlined in Creswell's (2007) Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design, my method of

analyzing the data follows a simplified version of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method as

described by Moustakas (1994). The process begins by developing a non-repetitive list of

significant statements in the interviews and grouping these statements into themes (Creswell,

2007). The next step is writing descriptions of "what" the participants experienced in terms of

fair trade and "how" these experiences occurred leading to a textural and structural description of

fair trade through the participants' perspective. I also used aspects of constant comparative

analysis in order to continually integrate participants' perceptions in order to create and refine 60 thematic categories (Glaser, 1965; Littrell & Dickson, 2010). Littrell and Dickson (2010) also used this method of analysis when interviewing handicraft producers in India, as the "constant comparing" of participants' responses and themes leads to the evolution of theoretical insights.

Figure 1 outlines the overarching research questions covered in the interviews and the more detailed themes that emerged throughout the interview process. These themes were developed in order to discuss topics on a deeper level than typical fair trade impact assessments deal with (see literature review) and create an in-depth contextual picture of handicraft work in

Nepalese society. The significant statements that I analyze in order to describe fair trade fall into these thematic categories as well.

Figure 1: Research questions and emerging themes

How is paid work What docs this type How is work related to and How is work of paid work mean allocated and influenced by social changing and to people? organized? structures? transforming?

Why Women choose Relationships at Household Consumer demand to weave work management and gender roles

Attitudes towards the Wage/Salary Societal views of Job market demand weaving industry weaving and handiwork

Availability of work Working hours Fair trade and other Technology and other options work life reform

The text in bold represents the broad research questions that I determined as theoretically important for the study of work and work life intervention, discussed in more detail in chapter two. The themes listed underneath each question summarize issues that participants highlighted 61 as important through the interview process. The next chapter will analyze how and why these themes emerged and what they mean in terms of fair trade in the handicraft industry in Nepal. 62

Chapter 5: Data Analysis

This data consists of responses made by textile weavers who introduced me to their work and lives by participating in the interview process. Although the results are not statistically generalizable, the participant's opinions and perceptions of handicraft work provide rich understanding into how fair trade affects their lives. The importance of this data is the in-depth comparison between fair trade and non-fair trade weavers' narratives, experiences and aspirations for work. Their insights allow us to understand the relevance of fair trade in specific regions and industries while providing an in depth look at gender and work in Nepal. The narratives speak to a vibrant handicraft culture, one that is economically and socially significant to women. However the comparative aspect of the data illuminates the importance of questioning how appropriate or relevant fair trade is to the handicraft industry in helping handicraft workers

achieve their (re)productive goals.

Thus far I have laid out a clear understanding of what fair trade intervention is (see

chapter two) and the overarching political and development issues related to the handicraft

industry in South Asia (see chapter three), I will use participants narratives to demonstrate what

textile weaving both inside and outside fair trade looks like. In order to weave this picture I

explored participants' expressed experiences and the structures that influence these experiences

(Creswell, 2007) through the same broad questions classical social theorists, such as Marx,

Durkheim and Weber asked about work: What does it mean to people? How is it allocated and

organized? How is it connected to other social structures? (Strangleman & Warren, 2008) and

how is it changing? By comparing the perceptions of textile weavers working inside and outside

of the fair trade system, I will assess its relevance in this type of work environment. 63

This chapter will address each of these research questions based on evidence that participants addressed through the interview process. Through constant comparative analysis of the interviews, I have organized the evidence thematically, as trends emerged in participant's responses. I will describe each theme by using specific quotations from the interviews and the implications of these responses in terms of fair trade intervention and development issues related to gender and work in Nepal (as discussed in chapters two and three).

What does paid work mean to people?

A. Why Weaving?

In order to understand if fair trade is relevant to improving working conditions and market access in the handicraft industry it is important to find out why women choose these jobs in the first place. Participants in both fair trade and non-fair trade usually had the same five reasons for seeking employment in weaving; it was often the only job available in the area, the flexible nature of the work, their desire to have their own income, as a time-pass activity and additional income to help with their household expenses. These reasons are not mutually exclusive; women usually described a combination of them as reasons for entering the handicraft industry.

The most common response participants' had for why they became weavers, is the same reason most people decide to work, for the additional income it brings to their household.

However, most participants agreed that weaving is not a full time job, since they usually do it in their free time, and cannot make a living from their weaving salaries alone. "/ heard about this organization and I decided if I got the opportunity to work I would take it and work hard for my own money. Then I don't have to ask [my husband] for money." (Lali, nft, Palpa). Only three of the 50 weavers I interviewed claimed to be the primary income earners in their household, other weavers shared expenses with their husbands, their adult children or parents. "To raise a family 64

[this job] is not enough but if you are living with your family and working in your free time then it's good for extra money." (Nirmala, ft, Pokhara). Another fair trade weaver from Pokhara also described her income as "extra" money, "I heard about this project and decided instead of staying home I could go and work and make some extra money for my household" (Karuna, ft,

Pokhara). A non-fair trade weaver had a similar opinion, "It is not sufficient to live off of just weaving. It is just extra money, most of it goes to school fees, my husband also works." (Rashmi, nft, Pokhara).

Many women identified feeling that handicrafts were the only paid jobs available in their area or the only job available to them because they were uneducated. Some women even described wishing they had other opportunities but did not know how to access them.

"This is a more developed area so it's easier for women to find different jobs outside but in the rural areas around here it will be difficult to find other work than handicrafts." (Nirmala, ft, Pokhara)

"I don't have an education to get other jobs. I learned how to weave from watching other people and it was easy...I got a job here first and I only know how to do this I don't know about other places to work or how to find other jobs." (Paree, ft, Pokhara)

Paree's comments are particularly interesting because she has worked for a fair trade organization for 9 years. Considering one of the main goals of fair trade is to empower women, it is surprising to find that she expresses a sense of limitation when it comes to work. While Trisha, a weaver who now manages a non-fair trade organization in the same area, noted the difficulty of finding employment but interpreted her job as providing opportunity,

"There isn't work It's hard to find work. Especially for women. If women don't have an education they need a skill. This is a good job for them because they can get trained and have work" (Trisha, nft, Pokhara)

These comments demonstrate that although fair trade can be a tool for empowerment, it is not necessary to creating decent, meaningful and empowering work for women in this industry. 65

Participants also expressed that handicraft work tends to have flexible hours and in many cases can be done from home, which allows them to balance their household work with paid work. "/ have flexible hours working from home. If it was fixed hours I wouldn't be here now.

The amount I work can change overtime" (Deepti, ft, Pokhara). Another fair trade weaver in

Pokhara, Manisha, expressed both flexibility and lack of other opportunities as reasons for weaving, "There aren't a lot of other job opportunities and this job is flexible so I can help with home duties as well." Shanti, a manager of a fair trade weaving group told us that most of her producers would like to be able to work outside their homes but need the flexibility that working from home provides. "Many of our producers are housewives and would like to work out of the home but they can't. Because of their children, their parents, they have responsibilities."

Participants also described how much they value the flexibility of handicraft work over other types of work available,

"Most women want to have this job over other jobs...hotel work is harder you don't get any break or holiday and you don't get paid on time and this is difficult if you are paying rent. Also some owners are not nice. In this job we get 5 days holiday at Dashian and 3 days at Teej and Tihar ...Working hours are not fixed. I can come when I want to. My health is not that good so I can't work for too long." (Rashmi, nft, Pokhara)

Although Rashmi works for a non-fair trade organization she is able to identify bad working conditions or unfair treatment in other industries while illuminating what she values about the nature of her work. Just like the comments from fair trade weavers above, her need for flexible work is being met in non-fair trade.

This flexibility also creates the opportunity for participants to work in their free time.

When I asked why participants became weavers, many said they chose it because it was a "time- pass" activity that allows them to bring in a small income. "This is a free time job. Why waste

14 These are major Hindu festivals in Nepal 66 your time if you can work and make some extra money. That's why some girls do this in their free time from school" (Sajani, nft, KTM). Sabina, a fair trade weaver in Pokhara, described that

she began working after she left school early to pass the time, "/ am working so in my free time I

can make some extra money while I pass the time." Most women who had children, described feeling bored once their children began school and weaving helped to fill time they used to spend

taking care of their children, "My children are in school so its a good way to pass the time and

earn money" (Yahvi, nft, Palpa). For many women this is their first or only opportunity to have

paid employment and they valued the opportunity to use their time to earn an income,

"There are different kinds of people in society. Some people will work really hard and then go play cards some people do nothing all day just talking and talking. But if I am staying home doing nothing why shouldn 't I make money. This work is good exercise, good income and my time is being used well." (Deepti, ft, Pokhara)

These comments demonstrate why women choose weaving in particular, while giving insight

into their expectations from paid employment. Participants in both fair trade and non-fair trade

identified similar needs when choosing this type of work. In addition, their comments illustrate

that both types of industries are adequately fulfilling these needs.

B. Attitudes about weaving

Participants' attitudes towards the handicraft industry revealed what Rupert (2006) refers to as a

"collective self-understanding" of work or what influences their socially constructed identities

and therefore affects their ability to achieve their aspirations for work (Rupert, 2006). Overall,

weavers have a positive attitude towards their work, describing it as 'fun' or 'easy.' Deepa, who

has been a weaver in the largest non-fair trade factory in Palpa for 35 years described weaving as

more than just work, "it's not just a job. Its fun, we are all like sisters here. " Through out the 67 interview process in all the regions we went a theme arose around weaving being enjoyable compared to farm work or physical labour outside:

"Compared to other things it is easy work. You don't have to stay in the sun, you don't have to stay in the rain and do hard labour...Weaving is a better job than farming. " (Manali, ft, KTM)

"With weaving I don't have to sit in the sun or in the rain or get cold. It is so easy and fun. It is a good job" (Binita, ft, Pokhara)

"Even though I can't make much money from it, it's a fun job and the day goes by so quickly...It's easy to do this job I don't have to sit in the sun or the rain. Its less hard on your body than working outside on the farm" (Rashmi, nft, Pokhara)

Since Nepal is 87 percent rural and most of the population depends on subsistence farming, these comments support the idea that handicrafts are usually women's first or only available entry into paid employment outside of their homes and farms.

I found that women in both fair trade and non-fair industries also described feeling pride in their work. However the women weaving in the non-fair trade Palpali Dhaka industry tended to express pride more often. This is obviously linked to the fact that Dhaka is related to their culture and is often worn by important members of society, like royalty and government officials or during important festivals. "Dhaka is our traditional cloth and its our pride, all of the people they use Dhaka and its a local product so we should protect it" (Sabina, nft, Palpa). Bakul, another Dhaka weaver from Palpa felt proud to make Dhaka because she felt society valued her work, "Society considers weaving a good job. Palpali Dhaka is renowned in Nepal, Even royalty wears it." Dhaka weavers from the Kathmandu Valley also expressed this sense of pride, "My friends say I have a good job...Because of our culture Dhaka is very respected compared to other handicrafts" (Anjana, nft, KTM). Artisans in fair trade industries, where the design of the products are usually tailored to western consumers taste, did not describe a sense of pride in the 68 products they made. In fact they often complained about how difficult it was to meet foreigners expectations:

"it is difficult because we make everything by hand, we make the color and weave the textile and buy the material and bring it from KTM and sew it and we have expenses all along the way and if any small thing goes wrong the buyers will complain, 'this color is slightly different from last time'. And so much money is lost from fixing things...If someone orders 100pieces we can't dye all the material in one lot-so the color will be slightly different and they will reject half the order so all that money is lost. The time the material, it causes us so much trouble and I don't want trouble I just want to work hard.... [a local market] would be easier. It wouldn't matter if it was a little big or small... foreigners need everything to be perfect. Please give the message to other foreigners to forgive us if we make a few mistakes with size, just small like 1 or 2 cm-please forgive us and please don't cancel the order and waste all our hard work." (Deepti, ft, Pokhara)

These types of responses resonated with my own experiences working as a production manager for a fair trade business based in Canada partnering with artisans in Nepal. I was often required to reject products when they did not meet the standards of the foreign buyers I represented. Since

Canadian consumers are used to machine made, synthetic products, it was difficult for them to understand how unique and delicate handmade products are, often complaining if, for example, stitching on bags was slightly uneven, or the color and size of a bag was slightly different from other bags of the same type. When I would return products or complain about these quality issues it would affect the morale of the producers and the pride they take in their work.15 Other researchers also emphasize that buyers find craft producers difficult to work with because they do not understand the regional culture or context that crafts people work in (Liebl & Roy, 2004).

For example, rains in a region may come early, making it difficult for dyed materials to dry making products arrive late, or the craft person's perception of what is nice, often thinking that parts of a buyers design are mistakes, will change it to make it look 'right' (Liebl & Roy, 2004).

15 The managers of the organization would tell me about the affect this type of criticism would have on the artisans, often explaining that when we sent items back especially with small problems that are extremely difficult to control by hand, artisans felt their work was not valued. Although culturally it would be unlikely that artisans would express there feelings to me as an outsider and buyer, I could tell by their body language that they felt embarrassed and/or frustrated when I pointed out mistakes. 69

This is even more difficult in the fair trade industry where consumers are paying a premium and the pressure for a high quality product is elevated.

How is work allocated and organized?

In order to implement effective work life reform a deep understanding of how work is allocated and organized is essential in identifying where improvements at work are necessary. Many people associate fair trade intervention with improving wages, but fair trade also focuses on other important aspects of improving the way work is allocated and organized. In addition to wages they also focus on gender equity, relationships people have at work, working hours, child labour and safety (World Fair Trade Organization, 2011). Participants in both fair trade and non- fair trade environments focused on three major aspects of the organization of their work: relationships with coworkers, wages and working hours. I have already discussed the value of flexible working hours so this section will focus on relationships and wages as other significant dimensions of organized work in weaving.

A. Working Relationships

When it comes to relationships in the work place, participants commented on how comfortable they felt with their coworkers and the managers of their production facilities. None of the participants described having negative relationships with their coworkers or managers. Even women who complained about wages, or were retired from the industry, reported that they

enjoyed going to the weaving factory, interacting with other women and felt comfortable talking to management about work. The handicraft industry is set up regionally, so women either weave

at a facility located within walking distance of their home or they weave from home and travel once a week to a facility further away to drop off finished products and pick up raw materials.

Participants usually reported weaving with other family members, neighbors or close friends, 70 facilitating the friendly and casual work environments I observed. In both fair trade and non-fair trade environments there was little difference in how participants described their working relationships.

Bhavna, a hotel housekeeper in Palpa who left a non-fair trade weaving business 12 years ago after her manager sold his looms, reminisced fondly about her relationships with her coworkers:

"The work environment was really fun. The others and me were friendly with each other. We would go sightseeing together and shopping together. Sometimes it feels like the days would pass so fast. I used to go to the movies a lot with the other women on our free time. Since I started working at the hotel I haven't been to the movies because I am too busy.

Deepa, another non-fair trade weaver from Palpa describes her coworkers as family and how approachable management is,

"It's not just a job. Its fun, we are all like sisters here...I feel like it is easy to approach the manager if I need to...The managers never tell me what to do, I can choose what I want to do...depending on the order, that is the work we get. If there is a certain pattern we don't want to do we can choose another one."

Participants who worked outside of their homes described how happy they were to get the opportunity to leave their homes, socialize with other women in an environment where they feel supported:

"My coworkers are very supportive and nice that's why I'm still here. People here don't judge you. All of the coworkers we all bond together, we treat each others problems as if they were our own. We care about each other." (Sabina, nft, Palpa)

"Working at home you are alone and at the factory I can hang out and talk to my friends. " (Sheela, nft, Palpa)

The fair trade weavers I interviewed worked exclusively from home, as described in chapter three, fair trade weaving is set up so weavers can work from rural areas where there are less job 71 opportunities, instead of having to travel long distances to a central facility. Although fair trade

weavers described their relationships at work positively, they often worked alone so they did not

describe the same camaraderie as their non-fair trade counterparts. In fact, women in fair trade

often described a desire to work outside the home, but the location of the organization's central

facility prevented them from being able to. Sonal, a fair trade weaver from Pokhara described

wanting a different job that could be done from the central facility, but not being able to do it

because it was too far away from her home,

" Weaving is good but I want to work in the central facility in the cutting department. But I can't come everyday, its too far and I have no friends to go with so it isn 't safe especially at night. I tried it for 9 days but I didn 'tfeel comfortable with the journey."

In an exchange with a fair trade manager, Shanti, I asked if weavers would feel more

comfortable working outside their homes:

Shanti: Many of our producers are housewives and would like to work outside the home but they can't. Because of their children, their parents they have responsibilities.

Sarah: Do you think they would prefer to work from a central facility in their village?

Shanti: If there was a place like this many producers would come to that place, if it is in the community. Because many producers have an old house with lots of darkness, no height and when there is no light they can't work. Most of our producers are leaving the work because of this.

Deepti, a fair trade weaver from Pokhara also emphasizes how much she enjoys weaving in a

group rather than by herself,

"At first we used to get together here in the courtyard and weave here in the cold season together but now people are getting older and now I just do it on my own. When we would weave together it was more fun...in the hot season we work inside because it is too hot and there is no room for other looms in the house so I stay and weave by myself." 72

Since non-fair trade weaving organization can be much smaller, production facilities are often located in remote rural villages, for example all the villages we visited in Palpa had a small

central weaving facility, this caters to women's desire to socialize at work. It also makes work

more accessible to the most marginalized women living remote areas who may not have space

for a loom, or proper lighting to work from home. As I emphasized in chapter three, fair trade

membership requires a certain amount of capital and organizational capacity, making it

impossible for small organizations or businesses to acquire, therefore fair trade organizations

may not be ideal work environment for many weavers; especially those that are most

marginalized.

B. A Living Wage?

Providing a living wage is a huge factor in the way work is allocated and organized, particularly

in fair trade. Although this is not its only goal, a study done by Littrell, Ma and Halepete (2005)

(as cited in Littrell and Dickson, 2010), demonstrates that over 50% of fair trade customers in

Canada and the US equate fair trade with providing a fair and living wage. A quantitative

analysis of fair trade versus non-fair trade wages was beyond the scope of this thesis for a

number of reasons. Firstly, we found that in fair trade organizations, weavers received a variety

of different wages depending on their relationship with the fair trade organization; most weavers

worked on a piece rate, meaning they get paid for as much as they weave, others who worked at

a central production facility reported receiving a daily rate and some a monthly salary. In some

fair trade organizations all producers reported receiving certain benefits, but these depended on

the organization, some giving subsidized health insurance, some providing maternity leave, and

some only providing benefits to salaried weavers which only represents a small proportion of the

total weavers in the organization. For example, Karuna, a weaver who has been working for a 73 fair trade organization getting paid per cm for 4 years, when asked about what additional benefits she gets on top of her salary reported, "/ don't know if there are any benefits here." I asked specifically if there was medical insurance and she replied, 'Wo there isn't, if I get sick I pay on my own." However, Paree, who has worked for the same organization for 9 years reported receiving health insurance and other benefits,

" I get paid per how much I can weave each month...This place gives rewards for good work and it is well paid and the hours are good-we can't work for too long...every year there is a special day where the best weavers get honored with gifts and a ceremony. We get health insurance from a company and so we get discount on some medical services"

In Pokhara, where I saw the strongest competition between fair and non-fair trade, women from both industries reported getting between 190-400 rupees/ loom. Rashmi, a non-fair trade weaver

in Pokhara, even claimed that she got paid more then she could at the fair trade organization

down the road, "We get more money here then the other places. The one up there pays 190 [the

other nft organization] and the other [theft organization] pays 250 and we get 300."

Once you factor in the difference between the various benefits different workplaces

provide and the cost of living between these different regions, especially urban and rural areas, it

is very difficult to compare absolute wages.

However, the purpose of this study is to understand perceptions of the weaving industry

through fair and non-fair trade workers, including perceptions of their wages. The agency of

workers is often left out of economic debates on production, and the primary purpose of this

study is to demonstrate that how workers perceive their wage in terms of their social context has

equal value to the numerical amount. In fact, understanding weavers' perceptions of their wage

provides deep insight into what is important to them about work and work life reform.

Only three of all the weavers we interviewed felt their wage was unfair, and 40 described

their wages as fair or fair but not enough to make a dependable living on without a second 74 income. The responses were split down the middle, and were mixed between fair trade and non- fair trade weavers. This demonstrates that there was not a significant difference between the way fair trade and non-fair trade participants perceived their wages.

"To raise a family [weaving] is not enough but if you are living with your family and working in your free time then it's good for extra money" (Nirmala, ft, Pokhara)

"My husband doesn 't mind me working he doesn 't say any thing...his personal salary won't be enough so I need to work. I manage the expenses for the kids." (Champa, ft, KTM)

"Most women just do Dhaka in their free time for pocket money...Its too hard to make your living from Dhaka...if it is a small family maybe its possible. " (Shova, nft, Palpa)

Although wage is a very important factor in their work, weavers from both industries made it clear that since the wage was not lucrative, it was other aspects of this kind of work that they valued the most like flexibility, the opportunity to leave their homes and socialize, the ability to work without having a formal education and the pride they have in practicing a valuable cultural skill and tradition.

Another part of the weaving industry that is related to wage as well as participants' capabilities was the ability for women to own their own business, putting them in a position of power to design and negotiate the terms of their own work. Fair trade does not make it easy for women to own their own business; in fact it tends to marginalize smaller organizations, because getting fair trade membership requires well-developed infrastructure and capital16. However, we did meet some women in fair trade who have moved up within organizations to management positions, or running their own handicraft group-but are still limited in their decision making by rules and regulations from the central fair trade organization. In Kirtipur, mother-daughter weaving team Manali and Shanti run their own fair trade weaving group that supplies a larger

See Chapter two and three for in depth discussions on this 75 fair trade organization in Kathmandu. They described how the larger organization has tried different wage structures and how wages have evolved overtime in the fair trade organization,

Manali: "Currently I am running a home based group, so I get a 3-5 rupee commission per meter from what our weavers produce [for the fair trade organization]. Since they get paid per piece they will work hard. If it was a monthly salary they will be slower because they know they will get paid anyway. Management can't control every staff so it's better to pay per piece. In 2042 (26 years ago) the organization paid us per day 50 rupees to work there. Afterwards we felt it's not enough so we asked for a 20 rupee raise then again we thought it's not enough so we asked for piece rate and we made so much more money. Before I got bonuses and some other benefits but now there is no more benefits because I am doing my own business. "

Shanti: "There are a few weavers who will leave to work for [nonfair trade] businesses, even they know the benefits they get [from fair trade]. They are slow weavers that is why...not only its difficult for me its also for the fair trade organization because they have orders and deadlines from the buyers. I have to think about that every time I set up a loom, I have to think about which producer can work well. I have to think if that producer will work on time or not. I also think in planting season if they have a lot of land then I won't give them work. I have to calculate everything, even if the women has old or sick in- laws because then they will have to take care...Now we have no new weavers coming to ask for jobs just the existing weavers...we don't even have enough orders to give all the weavers...but before Christmas there is big orders but in the same time [as the busy season] we have harvest. Most of our weavers own a piece of land and will also work in on their land in this season. "

Manali's comments demonstrate some of the power workers, especially in management

positions, can have in a fair trade organization. Although Manali and her mother do not own their

own weaving business, the fair trade organization does provide incentives and opportunities to

move up and take on managerial positions. However, in contrast, Shanti's comments also reflect

some of the major structural problems with the fair trade industry. Due to strict expectations and

deadlines from foreign buyers and the decentralization on management decisions, fair trade

values are often overlooked and the most marginalized women, those who may have sick in­

laws, or depend on subsistence agriculture, will not be given work. 76

This is not the only way that marginalized women can get left out of fair trade weaving.

In chapter three I described the dynamic between two small non-fair trade organizations and how they felt marginalized by the large fair trade organization in the area. This situation is reminiscent of a common critique of fair trade in commodity labeling, that larger organizations who have well developed infrastructure and capital can afford to get the label, while the smaller and poorer organizations that could probably benefit from fair trade the most, cannot afford it

and lose a valuable market to buyers who prefer having the certification (Beauchelt & Zeller,

2011). I will discuss this in more depth at the end of the next section where I analyze fair trade as

a social structure.

How is paid work related to and influenced by social structures?

When discussing the effectiveness of work life reform in terms of development interventions like

fair trade, an understanding of the relationship between work and social structures is essential.

There are a number of social structures that influence work in the Nepalese handicraft industry.

These social structures became apparent through the research process as patterns among participants responses emerged. There were three emergent social structures related to the handicraft industry in both the fair trade and non-fair trade interviews; gender relationships,

society's view of the handicraft industry and fair trade and other work life reform.

A. Gender Relationships and Work

As I have outlined in previous chapters, gender relationships have a huge influence on work in

Nepal. Gender discrimination at work and increasing women's access to employment are major targets for development policy there. The participants both inside and outside of fair trade

expressed their perceptions towards work in a gendered way. These perceptions can be divided

into two major themes. 77

Firstly, they often described their work as more suitable to women than men.

"Before many men used to weave Palpali Dhaka...but there is not good enough money in weaving so men stopped doing it...its not hard work and can be done anytime and men are able to do more physical work so [weaving] is better suited for women." (Leena, nft, KTM)

They often described a sense of futility in trying to compete in "men's work",

"The work that men do is more suitable to men, like digging a farm. But women do get paid less for work. Maybe if men get 600 rupees women get 400." (Rashmi, nft, Pokhara)

"No work is easy. Any work you do is difficult. Whatever the men are doing its more physical and is designed best for men. Whenever men carry something they carry more than women, whenever they do the farming they do longer work than women. If men are digging the field they can do the whole field in one day so they get 400 and women can usually only do half so they get 200. Both are difficult but it's about how much you can do." (Deepti, ft, Pokhara)

"We are ladies so it's hard to get jobs in society. We can't do men's work because it's really [physically] tough. This kind of work [handicrafts] we feel is easy because we don't have to sit in the sun or the rain. " (Paree, ft, Pokhara)

Not only did participants describe a gendered division of labour, in terms of the physical nature of work, the second theme that emerged was around the influence men, usually women's husbands, have on their decisions about working.

"Some husbands don't give them time to work...its difficult to explain. Some husband are like 'oh why do you have to work. I work, you stay at home'...yes women want to work...its a different mentality. " (Trisha, nft, Pokhara)

"When I started this job my husband was supportive, he thought if I have this skill why not use it. My husband works at a tuberculosis hospital in Bhakatapur. He would travel to different districts and distribute medicine. So he was hardly ever at home and I was here by myself." (Manali, FT, Pokhara)

"When my kids were small [my husband] asked me not to go to work. He would get a little bit angry about that. But from my perspective I was bored so I wanted to come here. "(Sushila, nft, KTM) 78

One participant mentioned that her husband was a major influence in her decision to retire after weaving for 12 years:

"/ stopped because I needed time for doing house work...I'd like to work but what to do...I prefer to work outside the home...My husband said to stay home and take care of our parents, we have enough money sol don't have to weave anymore." (Meera, nft, Palpa)

They often commented on women having a more difficult life, and having more responsibility than men,

"Women's life is difficult. Men don't have to cook food, they don't have to get the water, they don't have to clean and do housework, they don't have to take care of the kids. We cook the food and we give it to them and then only their work begins. We have to take care of the kids, feed them, wash their clothes, do the dishes, we have to finish all the work of the household. " (Reeta, nft, Palpa)

"Nepalese women really have a lot ofburden-Ifeel like it's a burden, not only for uneducated women but for educated women its also really tough you know. Office, children, lunch, work at home, sometimes it really makes me frustrated. Most of the Nepalese men are lucky because their wives work a lot and [the men] get lots of support. Nepalese men are so lucky, they don't need to wash clothes, don't need to cook food, don't need to clean house, don't need to take care of babies. [Women] need to go to office and to manage everything at home too." (Shanti, ft, KTM)

The issue of out migration also impacted participants' sense of a double burden running the home and maintaining paid employment. A recent article in the Kathmandu Post estimated that out of every 100 people that enter the Nepalese work force 75 leave the country to work abroad (The Kathmandu Post, 2010). Out of the 37 married women that we interviewed 13 of them reported their husbands living and working abroad. Most of the women who reported their husbands working abroad came from rural areas, where there were very few employment opportunities. Women seemed resigned to their husbands going abroad to seek employment, "Of course I miss my husband but what can I do? Even though it's hard to look after everything alone we have to do it" (Sheela, nft, Palpa). However participant's motivation to provide their 79 family with a good lifestyle was more powerful than their concerns with running a home by themselves,

"My Husband just moved to India because he could not find good enough work here. When he worked here our salaries combined were not enough to provide a good life for my children so I sent him to India to work. " (Gita, nft, Palpa)

Division of labour and gender equality are clearly important issues when it comes to work life reform for women. Although women feel responsible for housework, and in many cases reported enjoying it, there is a clear sense of inequality between men's and women's work, capabilities, freedom and responsibility.

B. Society's Perception of Weaving

When asked if her husband supported her work another participant focused on the influence work can have on your reputation "Yes [he supports it]...this job is good its not like working outside its like working with family so what can he say about that" (Rashmi, nft, Pokhara).

Society's view of weaving and a woman's reputation is another major social structure that emerged through the interview process. This was particularly important to older participants in more rural areas. For example, Reeta, age 50, from Palpa spent a large portion of her interview describing why home-based weaving is a respectable job for uneducated women:

"Because of my economic situation I have to work. But to go work outside I don't know what to do. Even though I would work outside [the home] people will ask me to do things I don't know how to do and judge me. Your reputation is very important here. Making sure you have a good reputation in the community is more important than work If you can't find a good job than its better to stay in the home [doing house work or handicrafts] ...the main job that is not suitable for women is prostitution, since we are middle class here it is not respectable for us to do hard labour outside [the home]...Even if we go outside and work we have to think about our reputation. People who are a bit more educated have more chance to work outside [the home]. Even if we go outside [the home] to work we have to think about our reputation and do the work according to that. Most of the people who go outside they don't think about their reputation and do whatever they get." 80

Another major influence on the way the participants described society's perception of handicrafts was education. Depending on the participant's location, they described their relationship to work by their level of education. Women in rural areas described weaving as the only job available, often expressing the futility of getting an education because even after they finished their education the only work was in handicrafts, and you do not need an education to get a that job.

"/ didn 't study. I don't have an education so how can I get another job...Even though my daughters are well educated they can't find jobs here...half of the people can find jobs and the rest of people sit around doing nothing because they can't find jobs." (Reeta, nft, Palpa)

"I went to school but couldn't find a job so I came to work here...I finished high school and a year of college. " (Menuka, nft, Palpa)

"The advantage of this job is women can get trained and they can get paid while they train and then work...If you have a good education there are other jobs but for people without education there isn't another option. If you have an education you won't work here if you don't have a good education you will work here." (Karuna, ft, Pokhara)

As I moved to more urban or developed areas like the Kathmandu Valley, responses around the value of education in regards to work became mixed. For example three women from the same production facility in Bhakatapur, all described the significance of handicraft work as employment for women, but perceived the value of education in providing more opportunities differently:

"Most women do handicrafts here...Even after school there isn 't a lot of opportunity for women here even if they have a good education. " (Susma, nft, KTM)

"Most [jobs for women in the area] are handiwork. Depending on how much education they have there are different opportunities available." (Sajani, nft, KTM)

"Even if I get my studies I won't be able to find a job so I can get a job now and why go back to school...There aren't enough job opportunities for girls here...Maybe 45% of my friends can't find jobs and just stay at home or work with their family. " (Anjana, nft, KTM) 81

Other participants the Kathmandu Valley mentioned that people with higher education are not interested in handicraft work:

"My daughter won't weave she thinks its too hard she will do what she knows how to do...Most people go to school now and they are not interested in this job." (Champa ft, KTM)

"The younger generation is very different and the young generation is looking for different kinds of job. Weaving is too difficult and they don't want to put so much energy in to work." (Sushila, nft, KTM)

C. Fair trade and work life reform

The third major social structure related to the weaving industry emerged only when I specifically asked about it. Most weavers both inside and outside of fair trade had no idea what fair trade was or that they worked for a fair trade organization. When I asked Karuna about fair trade, she has been weaving for a fair trade organization for 4 years; she did not know what it was. After I explained it to her, she responded, "I work on a daily base salary. If I come then I get a day rate.

There are some other women who work here full time and maybe they get the benefits" (Karuna, ft, Pokhara). I asked Manisha, who worked at the same organization for 9 years, if the organization was fair trade and she responded "I don't know". I continued to probe by asking her to compare her work place to the other weaving organizations in the area and she replied, "There are no other factories in this area that do weaving... I really don't know if there are." This

surprised me because there are two other weaving organizations based just down the road from

where she worked. It became apparent that most women do not look for jobs; they usually find them through word of mouth and have little to no information about the value of their work.

Manisha told me she found this job through another women in the area who also worked there 82 and she was interested in working somewhere with flexible hours, "There aren't a lot of job opportunities and this job is flexible so I can help with home duties as well."

These responses demonstrate that fair trade is not an important factor when workers choose a job. It also demonstrates that fair trade values are either not being communicated properly to workers or they do not impact workers in a significant way. Champa, a weaver working for a fair trade organization in the Kathmandu Valley for 10 years, when asked about fair trade replied, "/ don't remember anything about fair trade. I go to the [central] office and they say something about it but I forget." Another telling comment from Deepti who has been weaving in fair trade for 12 years,

"[The manager] tells us about [fair trade]. She tells us that our products go to foreign countries to many different places like Japan and others. Sometimes [The manager] tells us about the regulations of the office but afterwards we forget because we are not part of the educational side of the project we are focused on our own work."

Although a few weavers could identify they worked in a fair trade organization none of the weavers, except managers made the connection between fair trade and working standards or benefits. Out of the 14 fair trade workers I interviewed nine could not identify they worked in a fair trade organization, three could identify it but could not tell us anything beyond it being a marketing strategy and only two could discuss fair trade in depth, both were in management positions at their organization and were no longer weaving. In Pokhara, where the fair trade organization employed over 300 people, most workers described finding jobs through word-of- mouth and the fact that none of them identified fair trade as a potential benefit to seeking employment at their particular organization indicates that the benefits are either not reaching producers effectively or not relevant to their needs at work. Based on the responses participants had about what paid employment means to them and what they are looking for in a job, it is clear that workers value the availability of employment, not fair trade. 83

The future of weaving: changes and transformations

As I mentioned in my literature review, with the constantly increasing global integration of production and feminization of labour, understanding how workers perceive and react to these transformations is essential in coming up with appropriate work life reform. When I discussed how the weaving industry has changed over time and what weavers think about these changes they focused on three trends: changes in technology, market demand and employment demand.

A. Technological advancement

Changes in technology affected non-fair trade Dhaka weavers the most, because of a new piece of technology called the J-card, a card that can be added to a hand-loom that organizes the strings according to a specific design so that a weaver does not have to count them herself, she just has to weave the threads the through the base. This makes the work much faster and easier. However the J-card does restrict designs because you are limited to however many J-cards you have and

cannot make up your own original designs.

"Before when there was only hand-loom we had to count the design out from a graph. Nowadays because of J-card it is easier to weave. J-card loom and hand-loom designs are different. Some designs the J-card cannot make and we have to use a hand-loom. With the J-card there is no design that is too difficult...you won't make a mistake with the design. " (Deepa, nft, Palpa)

"Before the J-card I had a lot of problems with my eyesight from counting but since the J-card my work has become faster and easier. " (Lali, nft, Palpa)

The evolution of the J-card has had a positive impact on these workers lives, however not all

changes in technology have this impact. Weavers in both industries described some

apprehensiveness to the impact of imported clothes, however they had confidence that hand­

made fabric was valued by society for its superior quality, design and cultural importance.

"Most people buy imported clothes and not Dhaka because it's too expensive. I used to have 20 hand-looms and now I have 4 J-card looms that can do the same amount of work. In terms of the electric loom, it only has 2 shuttle speeds so the fabric is not strong 84

and it shrinks. With hand-looms there are 4 shuttles so its thick durable and doesn 't shrink. "(Reeta, nft, Palpa)

"There is only one place downtown [In Tansen] that has mechanical looms but its closed right now... the machines are there and they only make limited designs and they can't find people who know how to use those machines. Handmade is better than machine made Dhaka. The machine made is faster and cheaper but there is less market because people want handmade, it's thicker and more durable. There are also better designs from handmade. Customers can tell the difference [between hand and machine made]...sometime shop owners will try to trick the customers...At border from India they will not let the electric machines in. They protect the Dhaka industry because it is the pride of Nepal. If enough machines came into Nepal the market would go down. " (Bakul, nft, Palpa)

"Even though there are machines that can weave textile cheaper, it won't effect our industry. People like handmade and are willing to pay more for it." (Deepti, ft, Pokhara)

These quotes demonstrate that weavers do not feel threatened by technological advancements, as they see their work as producing a specialty item with an irreplaceable quality. This supports

Liebl and Roy's (2004) assertions that the handicraft industry will not disappear from

competition with manufactured goods, but serve a valuable niche market in tourism and interior decoration.

B. Market and Job Demand

The weavers perception of changes in market demand of textiles was mixed, however the most

enthusiasm for the textile market came from non-fair trade industries, especially for those

producing for the local Dhaka market, where weavers claimed there was consistent amounts of

work, usually more orders than they felt they could manage. This usually led to weavers

discussing that there are significantly less people looking for weaving jobs, because so many young people go to school,

"There aren't a lot of women who are weaving anymore because most women are going to school. It would be helpful to find more weavers to help with all the work." (Pragya, nft, Palpa) 85

"/ don't know about markets or anything but lots of people must be using [Dhaka] that's why we have so many orders so I guess the market is good for Dhaka." (Deepa, nft, Palpa)

Fair trade weavers were much more neutral when discussing changes in the handicraft market. In

Pokhara, fair trade weavers did not comment often on the market demand, they mostly focused on the amount of women looking for this type of work.

"Many mothers do weaving in this area and work for this organization but people from my generation they mostly go to school now... whoever goes to study will still come to work here if they are interested-only some will go for higher level study. " (Indira, ft, Pokhara)

"Although a lot of people are going to school now there are still many uneducated people who are looking for jobs and coming from the village. There are still more uneducated people than educated people so there will always be people looking to weave. We feel like this business will never go away. We are always getting orders." (Deepti, ft, Pokhara)

Non-fair trade weavers in Pokhara shared these sentiments, however were frustrated because they felt that many women need this work and are looking for it. As such, women's entrepreneurship was being stifled by competition with fair trade. As I discussed in the previous chapter, the managers of the two non-fair trade organizations feel the large fair trade organization is blocking them from growing and providing more employment opportunities for women. It is important to remember that both these organizations are registered Non-Profit and

Non-Governmental Organizations, with the social mandate to provide skill training and employment for women.

"There are a lot of women who come. Why wouldn't they come. It's hard to hire new people because we don't have any export orders... We had some problems with our website and email and now we have no contact for export...now we are just selling to foreigners who come here and locals. " (Sailu, nft, Pokhara)

"Now we have enough weavers. We need more of a market. From last year we had 17 women now we have 30 women...its going up...Even though there are more companies here how can we recover unemployment, we need more places to provide employment. If 86

there are other companies coming [to this area] and asking me how to start up I will offer my help. I want more businesses to help stop unemployment." (Trisha, nft, Pokhara)

These comments demonstrate that there are many smaller organizations that could benefit from capacity building and increased market access, but feel blocked from achieving it because they cannot access fair trade membership .

Fair Trade weavers in the Kathmandu Valley had the most negative attitude towards the future of the handicraft industry,

"Nowadays we have lack of market. We have very fewer orders than previous years, decreasing orders. We cannot give the continuous work to our producers. Then when work comes they are lazy because when you stay at home without work for three days you get lazy." (Shanti, ft, KTM)

"When I stop weaving then it will be finished because my daughter doesn 't do it. My daughter won't weave she thinks its too hard she will do what she knows how to do. Most people go to school now and they are not interested in this job. In 10-15 years maybe weaving will be gone"(Champa, ft, KTM)

This was not the case with non-fair trade weavers in the Kathmandu Valley who usually claimed there was consistent work and many people looking for weaving jobs,

"Before I worked here I would knit at home. I like weaving better. You make more money and there is more work to do...According to how much women study they could get other job opportunities but I think there will always be people weaving Dhaka." (Susma, nft, KTM)

"Before we used to supply a [fair trade organization] but their orders of Dhaka are going down so we haven't gotten any orders from them lately. When we started all our orders were from [the fair trade organization] ...I feel like weaving will continue here in the future. This work is easy and it is a respected job. You don't have to sit outside in the dirt, so people will always want to do it. Before I thought it weaving would disappear but now I think its getting better. " (Sajani, nft, KTM)

Sajani's comments are particularly interesting and provide some explanation to why non-fair trade weavers in this region have a more positive attitude towards the future of the weaving

17 For more comments on this issue see previous chapter section 'Pokhara' 87 industry. She indicates that fair trade Dhaka orders are decreasing; yet her weaving group is able to continue with orders from conventional businesses.

Conclusion

This in-depth look at participants perceptions of their work environments and culture both inside

and outside fair trade raises many questions about the relevancy of fair trade in the handicraft

industry. When we consider that in terms of the meaning of paid work, how work is allocated

and organized, how work is related to social structures and how work is changing, fair trade and non-fair trade weavers gave similar responses, with similar themes and perceptions emerging from both industries. The significance of this data is the insight we get from participants on the

cultural context of weaving in terms of gender and paid work. Participants from both industries

paint a picture of weaving as an industry that does not require fair trade intervention. Moreover,

where fair trade intervention exists, participants did not perceive a specific value from it. In fact,

many participants in fair trade described desiring working circumstances that exist in non-fair

trade environments, like smaller facilities closer to their homes. In the next chapter I will

summarize the implications of this data on fair trade intervention and propose future policy

considerations and research. 88

Chapter 6: Discussion

Marx contested the hegemonic neoliberal conception of buying and selling labour as a simple value-free market driven exchange (Stranglemen & Warren, 2008). The basis of this study is the

Marxian conception that global production is a complex social and economic process requiring appropriate regulation to prevent the exploitation of workers (Stranglemen & Warren, 2008).

This is particularly relevant in terms of the feminzation of the global labour force and the work life reforms targeted at increasing women's opportunities to access decent work.

This research makes a number of contributions to political economy and fair trade discourses and can be used to reform international labour policy. First of all it has filled a gap in research that acknowledges producers' agency in global production by bridging women weavers' experiences at work with the conditions of globalization. Highlighting how overarching structures like neoliberal trade and alternative models like fair trade are sometimes incompatible with the needs and desires of women weavers. The insights into the world of fair trade and handicraft production that these women have provided can be used to improve global labour regulation and reform development policy.

Fair trade has done an excellent job of bringing trade and labour issues to the forefront of the globalization debate and has had immense consumer success. However, research in fair trade commodities and now fair trade handicrafts demonstrates that its practices and regulation are not achieving significant and sustainable success with regard to many dimensions of workers lives.

Branding and consumer loyalty has increasingly become a top priority for fair trade as its organizations promote 'mainstreaming'. Fair trade organizations are very proud of their success in the mainstream market, to the point where it has become one of their main objectives, 89

Do we need alternative channels at all? [T]he market share [of alternative channels] will remain limited because it is something separated from mainstream, and the success of the whole fair trade movement depends on there being no alternative trade channels at all.. .that is the ultimate success. ([IFAT,1999b, p. I], cited in Low & Davenport, 2005)

However, by embracing the mainstream and focusing on market-driven initiatives we are once again simplifying the buying and selling of labour and relying on the same neoliberal market that has continuously failed to protect marginalized workers. Nicholls and Charlotte (2005) In their book Fair Trade: Market- Driven Ethical Consumption offer a very 'neoliberal' answer to growing the success of fair trade-strengthen the fair trade brand and continue to create consumer loyalty. Corporations like Nike use the same strategy; increasing the importance and value on branding rather than production. For example, Nike spends millions of dollars on creating

"consumer demand" and this cost comes out of their finite budgets and is often financed by cutting down the costs of production (Klein, 2000). We already see this happening in World Fair

Trade Organization's 2009 financial report where a major concern for the future of the organization is the cost of maintaining a brand,

The cost of branding and communication by HOST Universal had been circa €150,000 in 2008, as well as circa €265,000 in the first months of 2009. This was arranged, however, without proper funding. WFTO has paid in the first months of 2009 circa €133,000 of the outstanding invoices of € 265,000. More could not be afforded without damaging the prospects of continuity of our organization. (WFTO, 2009)

Although there is no direct evidence that money and effort put in to 'branding and communication' is eroding fair trade values and regulation, it is clear that the institutionalization of the fair trade system is expensive. This research on fair trade handicrafts along with other empirical studies raise serious concerns that for all the effort and resources fair trade requires, there is very little proven long-term value for workers.

Although fair trade provides a system for consumers to feel connected to the products they buy in a world where the production process is increasingly abstracted, this connection is 90 just an illusion. As this study demonstrates, producers do not seem to know or care they are

involved in a 'trading partnership' with western consumers, in fact their impression of the consumers who buy their products are people with often unreasonably high expectations.

Moreover, fair trade is promoted as a movement with a worker focus, not a consumer focus so why are we seeing such strong emphasis and success on the consumer and branding side and hardly any on the worker and producer side.

If we are truly interested in creating long term and sustainable policy that supports

marginalized workers and creates a fairer trading system, we need to bring workers and their needs to the centre of the debate. As Booth and Whetstone (2007) emphasize, workers in poor

countries where fair trade is implemented do not just need better access to trade they need strong

institutional frameworks and rule of law to achieve good working standards. Fair trade can

actually erode these goals because they insist on dealing with co-operatives or organizations that

already have the capital and capacity to afford fair trade membership, "[Fair trade] can only ever

encompass a minority of producers and not necessarily the poorest ones. It may also increase

market instability for those who are excluded" (Booth & Whetstone, 2007). The intense

competition between fair trade and non-fair trade organizations that I encountered in Pokhara,

supports this claim. Non-fair trade organizations felt stifled by the large fair trade organization

and they felt that even if they wanted fair trade membership there was unequal access to it.

This worker focus study demonstrates that in Nepal fair trade is not relevant to weaving

producers and the weaving industry does not necessarily need the institution of fair trade to meet

the needs of workers. I interviewed participants from many locally run, grassroots organizations

and businesses that were concerned with increasing women's access to work, skill training and 91 providing a decent work environment that met women's needs and aspirations for work. They managed to achieve these goals without any fair trade intervention.

From a feminist historical materialist perspective, a major part of this study was to develop an understanding of women's inclusivity in global production. The results demonstrate that, social reproduction and gender inequality have an impact on women's aspirations and choices when it comes to paid employment. Women described aspects of paid employment in the handicraft industry that suited their needs to be an active housewife and parent according to social norms that dictate a woman's responsibility to her family and especially her husband.

These included the ability to work from home and flexible hours so as to not interfere with these responsibilities. Although these options were available in both fair trade and non-fair trade working environments, participants from fair trade described feeling restricted by these working conditions with very limited potential to work at a central facility and get out of their homes.

While non-fair trade environments accommodated these needs while also providing a large variety of other choices for women, such as: central facilities closer to women's homes in rural areas and the ability for women to run their own business or cooperatives. Since fair trade work environments are restrictive, it limits a woman's capability and freedom to challenge gender inequality by choosing to work outside the home, gather and socialize with other women or own a business. In fact fair trade membership is so difficult and expensive for a small business owner to receive that it makes it more difficult for women to choose that route. This was observed in my interviews with weavers in Pokhara. The ability of already well-established businesses to get fair trade membership gave them an even greater share of the export market through the capacity building that fair trade membership provides. This further marginalizes women entrepreneurs 92 who are trying to start their own weaving businesses and cooperatives, but cannot compete with organizations that are receiving the additional resources that fair trade organizations provide.

When I envision a world with better labour standards, I envision work environments where people have increased capabilities, choices and freedom when it comes to work. Where people have the power to unionize, access rights and collectively bargain for what they deem fair. Private labeling schemes and outside intervention like fair trade may be a temporary solution to helping a minority of workers. However, fair trade is being institutionalized, as a viable solution to inequality in trade and labour even though it does not stand up to rigorous

analysis when we conduct in-depth research on its impacts. Like Booth and Whetstone (2007)

suggest, it is not in anyone's favor to continue to put fair trade on some higher moral plane than

other economic interventions, if it is truly viable it should stand up to analysis using disciplinary political economy tools. The only success that fair trade has been able to substantially prove is that it is a strong marketing tool that appeals to consumers and we have already seen how market

driven, neoliberal policies fail marginalized workers over and over again.

People in the west appreciate accessible solutions to inequality, solutions that we can

easily take part in and feel good about. However market driven regulation combined with

labeling schemes cannot solve the systemic problems of inequality, exploitation and human

rights violations at work. Global production must be regulated through strong government

institutions that support workers to organize themselves and collectively bargain for what they

deem to be important in their unique social and cultural circumstances. While the intentions

driving fair trade are good, its implementation as a market driven system may be limited in its

application at the regional level. Labour is not a commodity; it is a human activity at the core of

human life (Munck, 2002). The fair trade paradigm still treats labour as a commodity in a market 93 driven economy. In contradistinction, human labour needs to be governed and protected as a fundamental human right. 94

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