What is IWCA?

The IWCA is a symbol of the struggle against exploitation and gender inequality,

with a greater focus on the grassroots of the coffee supply chain, in which farmers are generally poor and live in poor and precarious social situations and environments.

You should know in fact that, as in almost all industries, the most exploited and underpaid workers are those at the bottom of the different supply chains, in the case of coffee therefore the farmers and pickers.

They have no stable contract or minimum wage, no rights and often no healthy housing for themselves and their family, with no running water or electricity.

But guess who is on the lowest step still? Woman.

In fact, she receives lower pay than the man’s already paltry pay, is not entitled to maternity leave, and much more. Women often work with babies on their backs looking for 10 minutes every so often to devote to breastfeeding, possibly on the sly so as not to be fired.

That’s what the IWCA is all about: identifying the most at-risk situations in the world and fighting to protect workers.

This alliance is composed of a global network that unites and supports the resourcefulness of millions of women around the world, starting from the nerve centers of the coffee trade, such as Guatemala, India, and Brazil, and now operating in more than 23 countries, in which each has founded its own chapter, connected in a double thread with the global association.

It is a nonpartisan, and inclusive organization, which does not consider gender, religion or political thoughts. Accommodates everyone, including individual, private or public organizations.

The only limitation imposed is sharing the common end goal of protecting the rights of every worker and strengthening the garrison of women in the coffee community, which has always been a very masculine environment.

The core values of the association are:

• Respect for people and their ideas
• Economic and social sustainability
• Equity in the distribution of the world’s resources
• Collaboration between communities and top management of corporate properties
• The greater empowerment of everyone’s personal resources
• Inclusion of all: women, men and youth, to make a positive impact on their communities

The key aspect is precisely that it ensures that everyone has the opportunity to lead a dignified, sustainable and meaningful life.

Concrete efforts lie in awarding higher than average pay on coffee plantations, adjusted to the cost of living in the country of interest, greater respect for and protection of workers’ rights, and/or the construction of in-plantation kindergartens or even healthy housing at affordable prices.

Ernani Coffee and IWCA_Italy

We on the Ernani Coffee team strongly believe in gender equality.

In fact, our administrator is actually a woman: Claudia, without whom the whole machine could not move, an essential figure of the whole big family and a point of reference for the team, to say the least.

Then the other female figures are: Monia, Assistant Manager of Torrefazione Ernani in Milan, Corso Buenos Aires, 20; Stephannie, a great barista and machinist; Martina, a novice counter and bartender, but one who shows unparalleled daily improvements, always operational in Torrefazione.

And finally there is me, Martina, Marketing, Social Media and E-commerce manager, passionate about coffee and most of all proud to be part of this team, ready to prove how much us young girls are worth in the working world.

Finally, we could not but join the Italian chapter of IWCA since its founding. Now we are also an active part of the whole project, and you, through this unique and love-filled project, can support gender equality all over the world!