Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2016

Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005

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87 www.baristamagazine.com GET CREATIVE! Bored with the same old cold drinks? Be inventive with your beverages this summer; call us for some cool tips and recipes! 1-866-PRO-LATTE BaristaProShop.com/Ad/Barista of the people that produce it, it was important to me to try to make a better connection there. EM: What do you think are the most effective ways to galvanize the coffee industry behind gender equality initiatives? KE: In my view, it doesn't have to be done by pointing fingers and us against them, "I'm a woman, hear me roar," and all of that. I'm a woman who happens to be in the coffee business, and I feel related to women, of course, but I feel related to men, too. It's not like we're gonna go and say, "Here's a gender strategy—everybody line up!" Instead, we really try to do something collaboratively, where we understand the issue first, and then present some recommendations to the industry. The best way to get someone's attention on this issue is to say, "Look, you'd get better quality coffee, and productivity can increase by this much." How do we elevate women because they've been oppressed for so long, but within a community context, whereby men and children are also part of this? Because if you focus too much on one without supporting a process for others to come along, it tends to feel exclusionary, and can create problems that didn't need to be there. Men can be as great of change agents as women can, right? EM: Have you seen examples of the work making an impact? KE: One of the most moving experiences I've had was in Nicaragua maybe four or five years ago. It was a group of mostly women, at SOPPEXCCA in Jinotega. Fatima, the general manager, set up for us to meet with [five or six] men. They were so authentic with sharing their experience: "I used to be the one who would make all the decisions, and I would never even think about the work that my wife does." They were talking about how their awareness was challenging for them, and once they had that awareness, what they were actually going to change in terms of behaviors. Sure, that created more difficulties for them, right? Because then you have to have a discussion and make a decision together, and for anybody that can be a pain! But learning that the outcomes of those decisions are better overall, even for them. It's their enlightened self-interest, that by including their wife and potentially their children in decision-making that ... their farm is better, their overall life is better, and they're better as a result. You could just really tell in their faces how much they grappled with it, and how they were ostracized to a degree, and made fun of. But that's what it takes, right? It can't just be about women out there beating our chests. EM: What are you most proud of achieving so far? KE: At the risk of—well, I guess you're asking me to pat myself on the back, right? The conversation around gender recently has really gone through the roof. I do think that my work with Fair Trade and IWCA and PGE has really played a role in helping with this evolution. At the [International Coffee Organization] conference a few weeks back, gender was mentioned in every single panel. It was like, "Oh my gosh, could this really be happening?" In every panel over two days, gender was brought up at least once, and several times there were actual real in-depth engagements about it. That's a great satisfaction. Certainly nothing I do is by myself—that's why it's a "Partnership." That's what's great about specialty coffee, right? There are people that are so interested in doing the right thing and making a difference. It's great to be going along on the ride, and contributing to the conversation however I can, in ways that are meaningful.

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