Commodity chain

Definition

The sequence of activities involved in the production and distribution of a commodity.

Ethical Language Guidance

Gender History

Commodity chain analysis, emerging from 1980s–90s economics, typically mapped firms and trade but deprioritized gendered labor divisions—women's hand-labor and assembly work in agrifood chains were treated as 'unskilled' and 'cheap' rather than systematically analyzed.

Inclusive Usage

Use 'commodity chain' with explicit gender disaggregation of labor at each node: who works, at what wage, under what conditions, and who captures profit.

Empowerment Note

Women represent the majority of food processors and laborers in commodity chains globally; their labor, skill, and organizing power are foundations of system stability and resilience.

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