Equality

Fostering empowered, safe communities and equal opportunities.

Context

Women and young people in tea producing regions have fewer opportunities than men; they cannot exercise their rights because of systemic and institutional barriers, while young people often lack the agency to improve their situation.

Human rights violations like gender-based violence, child trafficking, and child marriage are sadly prevalent. To build a socially just tea industry that benefits everyone, we must prioritise equal opportunities for all; including access to resources, education, and jobs, and ensuring everyone is safe at home, work and in their communities. We do not apply this thinking to our work on equality alone; the concerns and experiences of women and girls are at the heart of all our activities.

 
Outcome two

Equal opportunities for women and young people in tea producing regions.  

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Our approach

Ensuring women are at the heart of decision-making

Discrimination is caused by broad systemic and structural challenges; to tackle it, we engage a range of stakeholders and make sure women are involved in our community-led participatory approach. Women hold a deep understanding of local contexts and the social dynamics that shape attitudes towards them, meaning they can identify the challenges they face and shape effective and long-lasting solutions to overcome them.

  • Our projects seek to raise awareness of the rights of women and young people, and support them to exercise these rights
  • We collaborate with individuals, communities, women’s rights organisations and other civil society organisations to design and implement activities, and involve men and boys to help shift societal attitudes
  • We focus on activities that work towards transformative leadership for women to create safer, more equal workplaces, and increase the number of women in management roles

  • To promote greater transparency in tea, we work with our members and other businesses to help them gain a deeper understanding of the risks in their supply chains. We convene conversations between businesses and other stakeholders and provide businesses with briefing papers and factsheets on issues
  • We support our members and businesses in taking accountability for their supply chains, identifying any adverse impacts their operations may have on women and girls
  • We collaborate closely with suppliers to develop and action plans to mitigate any equality issues in their supply chain

  • We seek to increase the adoption of policies, legislation and practices that improve equality in the tea sector
  • We develop evidence-based resources and convene industry stakeholders
  • We share insights and learnings from our activities, amplify women and girls’ voices, and highlight the practical steps stakeholders can take to catalyse change
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Our impact

More than 3,000 women reached

through leadership training, gender-based violence interventions, and human rights interventions

Nearly 30,000 people reached

through child protection interventions in India

23% more tea estate managers in India

have knowledge of the Children’s Rights

More than 2,000 people reached

through community development forums in India

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