Gender Inequality in Ethiopian Coffee Growing Regions: Coffee Harvesting and Bean Processing

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U.S. Department of Labor Partners with CARE to Promote Gender Equality in Ethiopian Coffee Industry

The U.S. Department of Labor has signed a $5 million cooperation agreement with the international non-profit organization CARE, funded by the U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) for a period of 50 months. This cooperation project focuses on gender equality, aiming to improve gender inequality in Ethiopia's coffee industry and reduce the employment of child labor.

The U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) stated that this project will cooperate with multiple agencies of the Ethiopian government to directly assist 10 towns in the Gedeo and Oromia coffee-producing regions of southern Ethiopia. The initiative aims to transform community norms, social traditions, and practices that maintain gender inequality in the coffee industry, benefiting 10,300 people.

Gender Inequality in Ethiopian Coffee Regions

According to statistical data from the Ethiopian National Statistics Office, compared to other coffee-producing regions in Ethiopia, the Gedeo and Oromia regions show severe labor and income inequality for women (and child labor). Among more than 10,000 people, over 7,000 experience such inequality.

Child Labor in Ethiopian Coffee Farms

In small-scale coffee farms in Ethiopia, employing child labor has become commonplace. Due to regional poverty and lack of educational resources, children naturally become one of the family burdens. Although child labor productivity is not high compared to adults, employment costs can be very low.

Almost all coffee-producing countries face serious problems with child labor employment. While the situation in Ethiopia is not optimistic, it has not reached the status identified by Verite (an international non-profit organization mainly engaged in auditing, training, and management system construction related to corporate social responsibility) as "maintaining coffee production through forced labor and excessive child labor employment." The U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has also not identified Ethiopia as a place with excessive child labor in the coffee industry, but this project follows up on numerous reports regarding discrepancies in child labor employment records.

Gender Disparities in Labor Statistics

A recent report from the "Increasing Labor Employment in Low-Income Countries" project, funded by the UK Department for International Development (UKAID), pointed out: if Ethiopia's coffee labor force is surveyed and recorded by men, there will be a 7%-10% difference in the actual proportion of women and child labor in Ethiopia's coffee workforce.

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