When shoppers practice ethical consumption , they can begin to establish new patterns of social justice that value economic and political equality, as well as environmental sustainability. Don't buy what you don't need. Week initiates an international call to action regarding women's rights from a worldwide perspective. Week raises consumer awareness of women as global producers of goods and services and as reproducers who fill social and familial needs. Women's exclusion from policy-making roles further allows their exploitation in a transnational economy.
Week asks consumers to demand women's equal opportunities through economic and political activism.
The Platform for Action adapted at the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing reflects a new international commitment to counting women's work. Together women can build global alliances which benefit all of us across national boundaries. Retailers and manufactures alike pocket enormous profits while consumers and workers pay the price. The average wage for Indonesian workers in the U.S. footware companies such as Adidas, Nike and Reebok is only twenty cents per hour. Garment workers in U.S. sweat shops reportedly work sixteen hour a day, seven days a week, without any employee benefits.