Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/581281
STiR tea & coffee industry international 31 Photo courtesy of Coffee Quality Institute Approximately 70-80% of the world's coffee is produced by smallholders. Half of that labor force is female. GOGLIO_STIR_halfpage_trac.indd 1 29/09/2015 11:35:13 against gender empowerment programs do happen, especially when efforts focus on women to the exclusion of men. Hans Theyer, executive director of Fairtrade America, said, "Gender is a delicate matter, and we need to influence gender equality without being disrespectful to cul- tures and religions. We don't believe that we should come with our northern perspec- tive and impose ideas, but working hand in hand with producers we can find ways to influence how women can benefit from the Fairtrade system more equally." A resilient future? Granting that context matters and unintended consequences are likely, where will all this attention on gender equity take the coffee industry? All interviewed for this article agree that paving a path to gender equity will take time, investment, and concerted, coordinated efforts from multiple stakeholders. On considering why to pursue it, Anunu said, "What is our responsibility to incite these changes? We know it happens over [a long] time. What about the converse? If we don't consider it, we are reinforcing it or potentially making things worse by not considering it." Asked to consider where lasting change comes from in developing countries, Su said, "[It] shouldn't be up to trade associations and individual communities to think about sustainability and gender equity; it should be up to governments. No trade as- sociation agreement is likely to take the place of well-designed regulations in enforce- ment, resources, reach, power." Tampuri said, "If governments were doing what they were supposed to do, there would not be the need for us to talk about premiums in the communities. But the gov- ernments have been very negligent." The over arching theme that emerges from these discussions and these new publi- cations is that when women in smallholder coffee farms have more agency over their lives a higher quality product, and more of it, is the likely result.