Gender and Youth

Women make vital contributions to agricultural supply chains across the globe. On International Women’s Day, we join the international community in calling for the rights, equality and empowerment of all women and girls. Each day we see these values expressed in the voices of women we work with in global supply chains.

For five years, Musah Kalamdulai, a cocoa farmer and tailor from the Bremang Nwomaso community in Ghana’s Central region, believed that having his children work on the farm was just part of their contribution to the family farming business. Unaware of the risks to his children’s health and education, they often engaged in spraying agrochemicals, weeding large portions of farmland, pruning or carrying heavy loads.

In Ayisikrom, a community in Ghana where patriarchal traditions are entrenched, a gradual transformation is underway. Thirty-nine-year-old Mavis Baidoo, a mother of four and a cocoa farmer, has defied societal norms to become a trailblazer for women who are embracing social change.