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Press Release: May/June 2006
A Brew of Their Own
Fair trade coffee reveals its feminine side
BY Aimée van Drimmelen
Photography by Troy Wayrynen/The Columbian
A new brand of coffee is catching the attention of fair-trade consumers across Canada—one produced exclusively by women in the mountainous Andes of Northern Peru. Both product and project, enterprise and experiment, Café Femenino is transforming the roles of women in coffee-producing communities. Although still in its infancy, it could also be the new face of fair trade.
“Last year when I [spoke with the women], the first thing out of their mouths was, ‘How did we do? Can we do anything to do a better job?’” says Gay Smith, spokesperson for Café Femenino.
Smith, co-owner of Organic Products Trading Co. (OPTCO), has worked with producers in the region for 14 years. In 2004, she met a group of women who wanted to grow their own coffee and decided to get involved.
Over several years of technical support meetings for female farmers initiated by a local NGO, the women talked to each other, and what surfaced were tales of shared hardship that couldn’t be ignored. Despite the economic, dietary and infrastructural improvements from years of fair trade farming, life for the women of these rural communities had not substantially changed.
“Traditionally when a woman marries, any land she may own and any income produced on that land goes under her husband’s control,” says Smith. Isolation, lack of education and abuse were the reality for many of the women—a far cry from fair trade’s mandate to improve life for producers.
As a way to address these issues, the women decided to take control of the coffee they were growing and processing. “Separating the coffee created their own product and provided them an opportunity to have some control in their lives,” says Smith. “It gave them rights.” The women asked OPTCO if they could do something special with these beans, and Café Femenino was born with a mission to tell the women’s story and improve their lives.
More than just a brand name, the project has a powerful impact. To be labelled Café Femenino, women must produce the coffee at all stages: They are official landowners, prepare terrain, tend nurseries, compost, fertilize and process the beans. They also organize into coffee associations and send representatives to the region’s central coffee cooperative.
A commitment from buyers is also required. Contracts for the coffee are signed and committed to by a woman in the purchasing company, and a woman must participate in the sales and marketing of the coffee. Finally, roasters must donate at least one cent per pound to a women’s crisis program in their own community, or reinvest it to fund projects for Café Femenino workers.
The cultural shifts influenced by this project are significant, especially in a society known for its machismo. As female producers get organized, make decisions and learn the ins and outs of coffee production and sales, their financial independence grows.
But there are pockets of resistance, Smith admits. “The men say, ‘What about us? We think we should have Café Masculino. Why are the women getting all the special attention?’ So we have to be careful a little bit with that.”
It is too early to fully assess the impact of the Café Femenino project, but there’s no question that the concept is taking off. While taking care not to get too big too fast, the coffee is already available in numerous Canadian cities, as well as in the United States and Australia.
Similar projects are being developed with partners in Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Bolivia. According to Smith, certifiers such as TransFair have shown interest in applying the concept to other products, so it may not be long before we see Sugar, Tea and Banana Femenino join this burgeoning fair trade family.
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