Free Trade, Alternative Trade and Women in Peru

Abstract

Transnational policies affect alternative trade organizations that reinvest their profits in poorer communities. As transnational corporations expand, low–wage workers – particularly the women preferentially hired in this sector – initially find themselves with greater employment opportunities. These then decrease over time as traditional income sources and local businesses decline. Based on earlier ethnographic research in Lima, this article provides the framework for a new study to discern how trade regulations might affect projects that assist low–income women in Peru.