Women in the World of Coffee

Where does the coffee we drink come from and how many hands did it take to cultivate it? How many of these hands were women’s?

According to the International Trade Center, 70% of the work dedicated to cultivating, harvesting and processing coffee is done by women. However, only 10% of the women have access to the market and therefore get recognition for their work.

It is estimated that the livelihood of more than 500 million people in the world depends on coffee, which justifies how the role of women is fundamental today to design a sustainable future for our planet.

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR – 2014

Illycaffè, together with the Fondazione Ernesto Illy, sponsored and organized on March 27th-28th, 2014 the first international seminar “WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF COFFEE – Fostering the Quiet Revolution through Education and Access“. During this occasion, more than 80 people, including 60 women from 16 countries around the world, attended the event. As a result of this seminar, a few of the 2014 women participants have continued to work on these issues and created a blog telling their stories as well as other women in the world of coffee. They were also the speakers for the second event.

THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR – 2015

The second seminar, “WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF COFFEE – Fostering the Quiet Revolution through Sustainability in the hands of women“, with the aim to have women coming from different coffee producing countries in the world to meet and relate, took place the day after the conclusion of the Global Coffee Forum on October 2nd 2015 at EXPO hosted by the Colombian Pavilion. This event involved more than 50 people, including 20 women from more than 10 countries around the world.