IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ijofsd/345351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Brewing a more Balanced Cup: Supply Chain Perspectives on Gender Transformative Change within the Coffee Value Chain

Author

Listed:
  • Bilfield, Alissa
  • Seal, David
  • Rose, Donald

Abstract

Shifts in global agriculture have led more women into formal roles in the coffee industry as small-holder producers and cooperative members. Inclusion of women in these institutions, however, does not guarantee a change in historical power relations, or the benefits that might flow from this. A transformative change in gender relations not only requires changes in women's attitudes and capacities and in the relationships between men and women, but also progress at the institutional and structural levels, a topic which has been infrequently studied. To address this gap, this paper explores institutional perspectives of stakeholders in the supply chain of a fair-trade organic coffee federation located in the western highlands of Guatemala. Major themes emerged from the interviews regarding women's inclusion in the industry, gender sensitization, women's empowerment, and supply chain support. The study finds that empowering women as productive cooperative members requires not only technical assistance and support, but also creation of an inclusive social and political environment that supports expanded choices for women and men. The paper expands our understanding of the historical context and current institutional dynamics that are fueling gender transformative change in the coffee industry. The conclusions find that this type of approach may lead to more than just superficial gender integration, and has the potential to result in the genuine integration of women into previously male-dominated organizations and the eventual percolation of society-wide shifts in gender norms, moving towards a more equitable society.

Suggested Citation

  • Bilfield, Alissa & Seal, David & Rose, Donald, 2020. "Brewing a more Balanced Cup: Supply Chain Perspectives on Gender Transformative Change within the Coffee Value Chain," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 11(01), January.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:ijofsd:345351
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.345351
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/345351/files/BREWING%20A%20MORE%20BALANCED%20CUP%20-%20SUPPLY%20CHAIN%20PERSPECTIVES.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.345351?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cornelia Flora, 1985. "Women and agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 2(1), pages 5-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rogers, Denise M. & Vandeman, Ann M., 1993. "Women Farm Landlords in the United States," Agricultural Information Bulletins 309695, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Supply Chain;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:ijofsd:345351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/centmde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.