The Cafe Femenino Story

Around the equatorial belt, where coffee is grown, women are essential to coffee production through their key role in cultivation, harvest and sorting stations.

However, within the organization of most co-ops, leadership and decision-making tend to default to men, due to traditional gender roles. In 2003, within the CECANOR co-op in Northern Peru, a pilot project was born.

464 women coffee producers from CECANOR united together to create a select program within the co-op.

Through strong female leadership and essential support from their male counterparts, as well as financial and market support from their commercial partners OPTCO, they created an entity owned and managed by women, and a brand of their own called Cafe Femenino.

Thus, the women of Peru Cafe Femenino entered a process to gain more social and financial independence. In partnership with Organic Products Trading Company (OPTCO), CECANOR Cooperative, PROASSA and Cordaid, Cafe Femenino created initiatives for food security, income diversification, education and health care. They also made it their mandate to fulfill the following goals:

• Provide women with their own income

• Seek equal distribution of labour

• Obtain land titles for women (having their names listed or added on land deeds)

• Support and create a pathway to leadership roles for women and include them in democratic decision-making.

Since then, Cafe Femenino has sprouted branches in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Sumatra. Cafe Femenino Programs across the globe are managed by women coffee producers.

The co-ops that have Cafe Femenino Programs are Certified Organic and Fairtrade Certified. Today, Cafe Femenino has over 2500 members, including over 100 leaders, spread over 4 continents.

Their mandate is the same everywhere: gender equity, with equal rights and opportunities.

Women represent 50% of our population.

To ignore or dismiss their rights and opinions denies everyone access to tremendous potential.

When men and women are given equal opportunities, their communities are healthier and more resilient.

When women and men are given equal footing, they work better together and they come up with better solutions.

Around the world, communities seeking and promoting gender equity have been more successful in reducing poverty rates; creating better access to health care, nutrition and education for everyone; reducing child mortality; implementing measures to reduce climate change; providing more opportunities to earn a living wage; respecting human rights and providing for basic needs.

Cafe Femenino has created a space for women to learn, gain independence and agency, so they can contribute to a wider range of activities and leadership within their communities.

To find out more about Cafe Femenino, please visit: