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Women in the Banana Trade

Gender Equity Issues

Home » Gender Equity » Women In The Banana Trade

“The current instability of the labour market wears the face of a woman; it is our responsibility to fight to improve our working conditions to ensure that we are employed with decency and dignity from this day and onwards”.

Fátima Del Rosario Herrera Olea
trade union activist, SITAG-Peru


 

Overview

Women working in banana and other tropical fruit production across Latin America and West Africa are increasingly struggling against instability, inequality and discrimination in the workplace.

Often working 14 hours a day without overtime pay, women lack the freedom to organise, without their rights being respected.

Women are sacked for being pregnant, have no ante or post-natal maternity rights and many suffer sexual harassment in the workplace, while high levels of toxic agrochemical use puts pregnant women and nursing mothers at high risk of negative health impacts for themselves and their (unborn) children.

Gender Equity Issues in The Banana Trade

Women Workers’ Rights

Women represent a small proportion of the workforce on Latin American plantations – as little as 7% – and are frequently hired on short-term contracts and are at constant risk of losing their jobs. Employers are often unwilling to provide maternity benefits, perceiving women as ‘high risk, high cost’ employees.

In some Latin American countries women have to produce medical certificates proving they are not pregnant, or submit to pregnancy tests before they are given jobs. Pregnant women can be summarily sacked.


Gender Pay Gap

The cultural perception in Latin America that women lack the ability to undertake physically demanding or technically skilled roles, means they are often restricted to tasks within the ‘more controlled’ environment of the pack house.

A lack of access to training for more skilled and better paid roles, leaves many women earning less than men. The situation for women workers in Africa is very much the same.


Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment in the workplace is commonplace and justified by some male banana and pineapple producers as ‘part of their culture’. COLSIBA (The Regional Coordinating Body of Latin American Banana & Agro-industrial Product Unions) campaigns to end such treatment of women, and was, for example, successful in getting Chiquita to introduce the first sexual harassment policy in the Latin American banana sector.


Domestic Violence

Unions are working with women members to make them realise that domestic violence is a matter for the police; that it is not a private problem. According to women organisers, “if he supports me, I belong to him, if he hits me it’s because I’ve done something to deserve it” was a common response.

This is not acceptable and is slowly changing. In Honduras, for example, trade unions have successfully fought to introduce a new law against domestic violence and are campaigning to raise women’s awareness of the law and their rights.


Childcare & The Division of Domestic Labour

A lack of childcare provision negatively impacts women workers, who have to take time off work to look after children.

In Latin America, for example, the majority of women workers are single heads of households, meaning they have to rely upon family, neighbours and friends, or, in some cases have no choice but to leave children on their own.

In addition to long working hours, domestic tasks mean women are working up to 18 hours per day, with negative effects on their health and well-being.


Lack of Union Representation

For decades there has been a lack of female representation within Latin American banana workers unions. COLSIBA recognises that “men alone cannot fairly negotiate about certain elements of work on the plantations. Women also need a voice for their needs.”

In 2013, COLSIBA elected Iris Munguia as Coordinator at COLSIBA, becoming the first woman to be elected to lead COLSIBA, and illustrating the great progress Latin American unions have made in terms of gender representation.

While in Honduras, Oneyda Galindo, president of the SITRASURCO, and first woman leader of a banana workers union, has said “we’re very proud to say that over half the members of the union are women…thanks to a lot of awareness-raising work.”


Health Issues

High levels of toxic agrochemical use in the fields and pack-houses causes women to suffer skin lesions, respiratory problems, cancers, miscarriages and birth defects in their children.

There is often a lack of adequate medical equipment, meaning women have no access to essential services such as gynaecology and breast examination. Other health problems include backache and varicose veins caused by cramped conditions.

Wages are so low that women are often forced to stay out in the fields during aerial pesticide spraying because they can’t afford to lose the pay.


Tackling Gender Issues

Strategic Aims

Working for gender equity is among our core strategic aims, including to: 

  • Increase capacity of trade unions in producer countries to represent the demands of workers, particularly the rights of young workers, workplace gender issues (such as women’s employment and freedom from sexual harassment), and occupational health and safety.
  • Support the education and training of workers and their representatives on international labour rights, occupational health and safety, gender, and environmental issues.
We pursue these aims through our participation in the World Banana Forum, which brings together stakeholders from the whole banana production and distribution chain to work towards sustainability and achieve consensus on best practices in the banana industry.
We also work with partner trade unions in Latin America and West Africa to help build the capacity of women to be part of the collective bargaining process.
Our focus on the rights of women workers has, among other things, seen gender clauses integrated into collective bargaining agreements and increases in the numbers of women holding leadership roles in the trade unions.

Action on Gender Equity

Our recent actions on gender equity include: 

  • Advocacy to improve labour legislation, particularly to protect women against sexual harassment and discrimination, and Health and Safety risks.
  • Working to ensure a proper gender dimension is integrated into collective bargaining and framework agreements with banana companies.
  • Calls for women to be offered more on the job training to build their skill base and open up their opportunities in the workplace.
  • Raising awareness of the unfair balance of domestic work and persuading men that it is right for them to share the burden.
  • Working to educate and empower women workers, such as our work with unions in Cameroon (FAWU) and Ghana (GAWU) to build the skills of women activists to play a greater role within their unions and in social dialogue.

Participation of Women Workers in The Global Banana Industry

Banana Link has produced a series of working papers for the World Banana Forum, analysing the participation of women workers and small producers in the global banana industry, including recommendations towards the provision of Decent Work and sustainable livelihoods for these women actors.


 

This research aims to improve our knowledge of the participation of women, as workers and also as small farmers, in global banana production.

Each regional report – Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean – includes:

  • statistics on women’s’ participation in the industry,
  • an analysis of the potential causal factors for this varying level of participation,
  • identification of the key issues faced by local women workers and producers in the workplace and at home,
  • the different roles/tasks that women carry out in the different countries and companies and any existing innovations that are helping to provide Decent Work and sustainable livelihoods to women in the banana sector.

Global Overview

The Global Overview provides a summary of the situation for women workers and producers on an international level and includes a series of subsequent recommendations targeted at various stakeholders – civil society, small producers, companies, retailers, certification bodies, and multi-stakeholder platforms – towards the provision of Decent Work and sustainable livelihoods for women in the banana sector.

The aim of the research is to inform decision making and the development of appropriate activities and programmes on gender equity within the framework of the WBF and within the ongoing activities of its banana industry members.

However, this information will hopefully also be relevant to anyone with an interest in issues of agriculture, gender equity, and socio-economic development.

The research was commissioned by the WBF, which is hosted at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and undertaken by Banana Link in collaboration with local trade union partners in banana producing countries.

Input was also received from some local companies and certification bodies, as well as from the WBF Steering Committee members and the FAO Department on Gender.

Key Findings:

  • Women comprise less than a fifth of the global workforce in the banana export industry.
  • The highest participation of women in the industry is in the Caribbean (excluding the Dominican Republic) where 40% to 45% of workers and small producers are women
  • The lowest participation in in Latin America (12.5%), the Dominican Republic (12.5%) and Cote d’Ivoire (11%).

Key causal factors for these differing levels of participation include:

  • levels of overall gender equity in local cultures / societies
  • provision of childcare (linked to the above point)
  • dependency on migrant labour, with men more likely to migrate to work on plantations than women
  • the diversity of roles that are deemed ‘appropriate’ for women
  • company policy and practice that may promote, or discriminate against, women
  • the extent to which banana farms are deemed as ‘women friendly’ workplaces

The Gender Research Reports

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Read Report

Read Report

Justice for Women Workers

In this interview, trade union activist Iris Munguia describes how lack of respect for workers’ labour rights is widespread in Latin America, especially where there are no unions. Abuses include long working hours, low wages, discrimination and sexual harassment.

After working in the packing depot of one of Chiquita’s banana plantations in Honduras for 23 years, Iris Munguia became a trade union leader and a defender of women’s rights.

This interview was filmed in June 2011, before Iris was elected as the first ever Coordinator of the Coordinating Body of Latin American Banana and Agroindustrial Workers’ Unions COLSIBA and received the prestigious SOLIDAR Silver Rose Award for her contribution to International Solidarity.

Women Taking the Lead in Promoting Safe & Healthy Working
on Plantations in Ghana

A Banana Link education programme in Ghana between 2013 and 2016 has empowered women workers to become active in promoting health and safety on plantations.

Having received training themselves on health & safety, the women are then empowered to provide training to the other workers on their plantations.

Since 2013, commonly reported health problems have declined by a third thanks to increased union activity with both employers and workers.

Since 2013, the vast majority of workers have attended talks on health and safety issues, and 55% have discussed health and safety with a union representative.

Since 2013, 97% of workers report receiving appropriate PPE, while the proportion of workers who have to use their own resources to purchase or repair PPE has dropped from 40% to 25%.

Barriers to Women Working on Banana Farms

Adwoa Sakyi, the IUF Africa Women’s Project Coordinator explains a little about the barriers to women working on banana farms, and her hopes for a new project involving the IUF, Banana Link and GEL management and unions to increase women’s employment.

Improving & Increasing Women’s Employment
Golden Exotics Limited

Golden Exotics Limited (GEL) are working in partnership with the International Union of Foodworkers Africa (IUF) and Banana Link to improve working conditions for women on their 2000 hectare Fairtrade certified banana plantation in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Alongside this, the project is also seeking to attract more women from the local community to work on GEL’s expanding organic banana farm.

More on Women Workers


Gender Equity

Practical Progress to Gender Equity

World Banana Forum & Gender Equity

Improving & Increasing Women’s Employment

Education & Empowerment In West Africa

Gender Equity Across Supply Chains

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