On the family-owned coffee plots that produce most of Africa's
coffee, it is usually women who undertake the majority of
maintenance and harvesting work. Here, and in other
coffee-producing areas around the world, their contribution is
vital. Despite this, however, they tend to have little control over
the harvest proceeds, and coffee industry structures seldom, if at
all, make provision for women's interests. Without information or
training beyond purely field-related issues, women have limited
opportunity to contribute to the decision-making processes that
affect them.
Research shows that increased access to resources for women,
particularly in the agricultural industry, has great effects on
education, health, nutrition and overall welfare, and on poverty
reduction. For women - and thus families and communities - to
thrive, traditional gender divisions need to stop confining women
to subsistence production and start looking at women's potential in
the commercial sphere. Rural women won't be offered the
opportunities they deserve until governments make targeted reforms.
Awareness and education are crucial.
Associations of women in coffee
Historically, women's groups and associations are a
well-established means for improving rights and access to services,
thereby providing social and economic empowerment. Capacity
building - through access to information, credit, infrastructure
and other business development services - is required to ensure
women's involvement in decision-making processes.
Using the rich base of knowledge in its Coffee Guide book and
the website version at www.thecoffeeguide.org,
ITC is currently supporting the Eastern African Fine Coffees
Association (EAFCA) with development programmes in 11 countries,
including a component on women in the coffee sector. The role of
women in coffee has been included as one of the themes at the next
annual EAFCA coffee conference in Kigali, Rwanda in February 2009,
which ITC is supporting.
In October 2008, ITC arranged to send two female EAFCA employees
to Costa Rica for the first truly international conference for
women in coffee. Women in Coffee (WIC), a leading information
sharing and training organization for women, which is active
primarily in Central America, coordinated the conference.
WIC is one of a very small number of organizations dedicated to
improving the conditions of women in the coffee sector. Another of
the few active associations, Café Femenino Foundation, began by
assisting poor communities in Peru. It now works in some ten
countries in Latin America, with development also under way in
Africa. The Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) has made important
developments in the past, but its programme for women in coffee is
currently inactive due to lack of funding. CQI promotes leadership
training for women by partnering female mentors in the United
States with fellows in both Central and South America.
Of the national associations of women in the coffee sector, the
largest and most prominent are in Central America: the Alianza de
Mujeres en Café de Costa Rica (Costa Rican alliance of women in
coffee); Mujeres en Café de Guatemala (Women in coffee in
Guatemala); and Flores del café - Movimiento de Mujeres (Coffee
flowers - women's movement) in Nicaragua. A few other countries
have small national or in-country regional groups of women,
including Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Kenya and India.
The collaboration with EAFCA has allowed ITC to expand its
network of women working in the coffee sector. In 2008, it used
these contacts to survey women in 15 coffee-producing countries
around the world. As there was very little information available
previously, the findings are particularly valuable.
© iStockPhoto Indonesian coffee fresh from the
plant |
© EAFCA Women in Coffee
conference participants, Costa Rica |
© EAFCA Conference participants,
Costa Rica |
|
Women's role in coffee production
Women's role in the workforce varies significantly from one country
to another, and even within countries. In Viet Nam, for example,
women make up about 50% of the in-country traders, which is
significantly more than in other countries. In Brazil, where a
third of the world's coffee is produced, there is a very low
percentage of women in fieldwork and harvest, due to the high level
of mechanized farming. Mexico provides an example of significant
variation of the role of women in coffee from one region to
another. Table 1 shows the diversity of women's roles across the 15
countries that participated in the ITC survey.
Women's ownership in the coffee industry
Women's ownership in coffee production is modest at all levels.
Ownership is difficult to describe for several reasons, such as the
sometimes-unclear distinction between ownership and user-rights,
and co-ownership for married couples. Table 2 shows that, although
there are significant variations, on average women own around 15%
of land, traded produce and companies related to coffee.
ITC is currently developing plans for further cooperation with
women in coffee-producing countries. The programmes will be
primarily based on the extensive resources in The Coffee Guide.
Table 1
Women's participation as a percentage
of total workforce |
|
Table 2
Women's ownership as a percentage
of total (including co-ownership) |
Function in
the value
chain |
Variation
(low-high) |
'"Typical"'
participation |
| Fieldwork |
10-90
|
70
|
| Harvest |
20-80
|
70
|
In-country
trading |
5-50
|
10
|
| Sorting |
20-95
|
75
|
| Export |
0-40
|
10
|
Other
(certification,laboratories etc.) |
5-35
|
20
|
|
|
| Property |
Variations
(low-high) |
'"Typical"'
level of
ownership |
Land used for
coffee production
(including user rights) |
5-70
|
20
|
Coffee
(when harvested) |
2-70
|
15
|
Coffee
(when traded
domestically) |
1-70
|
10
|
Companies
in the coffee
sector (e.g., exporters,
laboratories, certifiers,transportation) |
1-3O
|
10
|
|
The Coffee Guide
The Coffee Guide
website, is based on one of ITC's most frequently requested
publications over time. The website has over 500 continuously
updated text boxes on statistics, markets, certifications,
contracts, logistics, financing, hedging, quality control, etc. It
also has a question and answer service, which has posted more than
200 detailed answers to questions, primarily from coffee-producing
countries. The entire website is available in English, French and
Spanish.
Other valuable references for women in coffee include:
Eastern African Fine
Coffees Association
The International
Women's Coffee Alliance
Café
Femenino Foundation (see also http://www.coffeecan.org/)
The Coffee
Quality Institute