Let’s talk about women and sustainability

Women are the backbone of the coffee industry and of climate change adaptation.

Recently, I’ve been asked by partners within the specialty coffee industry to articulate how women’s health is central to the sustainability goals of the industry. In a world where there are so many critical issues facing the future of our planet and our people, it can be difficult to know where to invest resources and what is going to make the biggest impact. 

Here are some of the things we know:

• 1 in 10 children worldwide is engaged in child labor. These numbers are 3x higher in rural areas and ¾ of the labor is agricultural work.
• Around the world, 1.8 billion people live in homes with no water supply on their property and 1.4 million lives are lost annually due to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. 
• 4 in 5 people displaced by climate change are women and girls

What we also know, though, is that we can’t solve these issues without healthy women.

• In a mixed methods study done by Harvard researchers, maternal death was a direct contributor to increased likelihood that children would drop out of school and engage in higher levels of household labor and child labor (2015). The presence of women and mothers safeguards children’s health and education and contributes economically to the household so that children can be afforded opportunities.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa 80% of household water collection falls on women, and globally women spend 200 million hours collecting water each day. Women, when included in the design and implementation of water access and sanitation programs, increase their likelihood of success (World Bank, 2024). They protect the water for their families and communities. 
• Across 72 countries, a one-point increase in women’s political empowerment index – based on civil liberties, freedom of discussion, and political participation – led to a 12% decrease in carbon emissions (Sustainable Development Journal, 2019). Women with agency make environmentally-conscious decisions on behalf of their communities and the planet.
• A McKinsey Report from this year showed that women spend 25% more of their life in poor health than men. If we reduced this health gap by giving women better access to health services and effective treatments, it would boost the global economy $1 trillion annually by 2040. Improving women’s health has enormous and far-reaching economic benefits.

This is why we do the work we do. A healthy woman leads to a ripple effect: she is a direct contributor to healthy children, healthy communities, and a healthy planet. And cervical cancer is one of the diseases that prevents women from living healthy, productive lives. It is the leading cause of preventable, premature cancer deaths in low and middle income countries. 

Let me say it again: cervical cancer deaths are preventable and premature, and they are occurring in the countries where the majority of the world’s coffee is grown.

Our programs provide women access to cervical cancer screening and treatment, which has been designated by the WHO as a “best buy intervention” because it has an immediate return on investment. Increasingly, our global partners and those in the specialty coffee industry recognize the value in our work not just for the women who grow coffee but for the ripple effect of a healthy woman. 

Thanks to our partnership with Montana Coffee Traders, we applied to become a 1% for the Planet environmental partner, and were accepted because they know – and value – that women’s reproductive health is a proven climate adaptation strategy.

Partners like Ogawa Coffee support our work because we contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, specifically goal 3.4 and 5.6, to reduce premature mortality by 30% and ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health. And our Anchor and Major Donors sustain their gifts over 3-5 years so we can plan high-quality interventions for years to come. 

In a time of urgent social justice and climate concerns, I take great hope from the work we do, the women we see, and the partners who invest in women’s health. Because it’s not just the women who benefit – it’s everyone.

Kyle Engelman, Executive Director