Gender Equity

April 12, 2018

12:00 AM

Gender Gap

A surge of global initiatives promote rights and harassment-free workplaces for women.

By Kelly Stein

Creative ways to change power structures and promote women in coffee are blooming in different countries. Non-profit organizations, global institutions, and private projects are making the difference in both rural and urban areas and need special attention this year.

Discussions regarding gender equity are uncomfortable subjects for many players in the coffee industry, especially because they don’t understand what it really means and its importance. Even the concept of gender, which is not only related to women, is not clear for the majority. It is beyond male and female and the LGBT community must be included in this debate. This article, though, will focus on women’s perspectives.

Skilled women are working in every segment in the coffee industry, but the reality from seed to cup can change drastically for rural and urban professionals. Stories of violence, assaults, and lack of leadership might be a common denominator, but their nuances change. Looking with farms and production lenses, rural women are among the most vulnerable. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s report published in 2016: “Every gender and development indicator for which data are available reveals that rural women fare worse than rural men and urban women and that they disproportionately experience poverty, exclusion, and the effects of climate change.”

Issues related to labor legislation, work safety, and fair payment for both men and women were mentioned and questioned mainly for the rural realities in the last 10 years. The International Women in Coffee Alliance (IWCA) was born in this context and it is making history helping women in producing countries to raise their voice. “Nowadays, we are organized in 22 chapters in producing and consuming countries,” says the IWCA’s chapter manager, Blanca Castro.

Created in 2003, the non-profit organization started connecting rural and urban women in coffee in Nicaragua. Coffee industry veterans Kimberly Eason, Karen Cebreros, and Colleen Crosby started to process and trade coffee with small producers of Unión de Cooperativas Agropecuarias Soppexcca. From this date on, they never stopped. Debates, workshops, training, and lectures related to education, financial empowerment, and better opportunities for women produced new perspectives in the farms. The agricultural farming concept is changing and slowly women are taking part in the business of making decisions as well.

It took a while to watch the same attitude migrate to urban centers. It started a few years ago with shy gatherings and angry speeches, but it all changed in 2017. Last year was remarkable for those who fight for gender equity in any niche and a new era started with #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. They encouraged women to start an urgent debate about sexual harassment, assaults, and physical and emotional abuse in several sectors and markets. And it didn’t take long for these issues to reach the coffee industry.

Questions about power and leadership in different segments gathered men and women to rethink the structure. Why do women baristas have a poor performance in championships? Where are the women in high positions in coffee companies? Why don’t women in producing countries receive the same training that men receive?

Earth’s Choice

Karen Cebreros, founder and president of Earth’s Choice (Women of Coffee Micro-Finance Fund) says that “97% of women pay back their micro-finance loans no matter what country or social strata. When you put money in women’s hands, it is paid back.”

Cebreros, who is a co-founder of the International Womens Coffee Association (IWCA) founded Earth’s Choice 1994 when she was involved in the coffee industry in Africa, Indonesia, Central America, and South America. Until 2010, her company imported organic coffee grown by women farmers. According to her, the “fair trade coffee program” didn’t lead to less poverty for women workers and the idea of a microloan program would help these women to grow.

The goal of empowering women with entrepreneurial pursuits leads to a more secure family life including education, offers better access to health care, and lifts up the local community. Inspired by the successful Grameen Bank model in Bangledesh, Earth’s Choice Program provides a creative and sustainable approach to achieving economic equality for women.

Allied with local (in-country) organizations, businesses, rotaries, and cooperatives, the microloan project respects local needs in order to strategically meet their demand. This extra money with low-interest loans helps provide financial literacy education and business training to women.

Learn more: www.womenincoffee.org/earths-choice/

#coffeetoo

As #MeToo and @TimesUp allegations roiled the cinema industry in 2017, women in many industry segments began speaking out. Stories of sexual harassment and assault in commercial kitchens and in coffee shops followed, leading Molly Soeder, a 13-year barista at Broadcast Coffee Roasters, to launch #coffeetoo in Seattle, Wash.

A www.gofundme.com campaign funded the effort.

The organization informs coffee professionals of their rights and actions to take should those rights be violated; and seeks to reduce the rate of sexual harassment and discrimination in coffee. Resources and support are concentrated in determining how members of the coffee community can watch out for each other when encountering negative workplaces. This call to action was immediately tested when the Four Barrel sexual harassment lawsuit hit the coffee industry like a wrecking ball in January 2018. The #coffeetoo Facebook page posted support for two women who filed suit against co-owner Jeremy Tooker alleging sexism and assault. Tooker resigned as c.e.o.

Learn more: www.facebook.com/coffeetooproject/

IWCA

International Women in Coffee started in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the United States in 2003 with the simple goal of establishing a community to empower women. Connecting women in coffee was contagious, expanding quickly to 22 countries.

Chapters operate independently, developing and implementing strategies according to their specific needs. They share a common goal: women’s empowerment in the international coffee industry by supporting and growing a self-organized and self-governing network.

Brazil and its continental proportions is the only chapter that has subchapters. This uniqueness helped Brazilian coffee professionals gather important data and stories related to women in coffee.

The book Women in Coffees (Mulheres dos Cafés) was launched in December 2017 in Portuguese and the English version will be distributed in April 2018 at the Special Coffee Expo in Seattle.

Learn more: www.womenincoffee.org

CQI Partnership for Gender Equity (PGE)

“Increasing women’s participation in parity to men’s participation in supply chains can also lead to significant improvements in crop productivity and quality, as well as global food security and poverty reduction.” Kimberly Easson, Coffee Quality Institute’s (CQI) Partnership for Gender Equity.

How does gender inequality at origin impact coffee outcomes and the well-being of producers? CQI founded the partnership in 2014 in order to bring to light to this and other questions focused in farming reality. A task force was organized by its members and partners and the report The Way Forward: Accelerating Gender Equity in the Coffee Value Chain was published one year later.

This first important step was to map and gather information for many in the coffee sector. PGE is working on common “tools and methodologies to support the coffee industry’s engagement and investment in gender equity across the value chain. Such tools will serve to improve the livelihoods of producers and enhance the sustainable supply of quality coffee,” an official statement at the PGE website.

According to the project, the goal comprises three stages:

1. start with scientific research;

2. develop strategic pilot projects and tool creation;

3. generate support throughout the industry.

Considering that women are often far removed from the decision-making process, the program strengthens equality and promotes adequate remuneration, and better access to land, credit, training, and leadership opportunities. Good news is that the work applied for one year in Nicaragua and its positive results inspired PGE to expand its methodology to Myanmar, Ethiopia, South America, and Asia this year.

Learn more: www.genderincoffee.org

AMUCC - Colombia

Located in the Cauca Department in Colombia, the Women Coffee Association in Cauca (AMUCC) is an organization 100% composed of women coffee growers. They own their land, control the entire coffee producing process and with the proceeds from that business are supporting their families and integrating their husbands into the farm practice.

Learn more: www.caficauca.com/en/program/85

Café Feminino Foundantion

Founded in December 2004, this non-profit organization was named in honor of 464 courageous Peruvian women who made a decision to try to improve their own lives with their work in coffee production. It helps the integration of women coffee farmer “into social, political and occupational organizations by providing grants that help support the women’s efforts and enhance their status within the community”, official statement at the Foundation’s website.

Learn more: coffeecan.org