Staff Views: Oaxaca Trip

By Heather Ferraro, Membership Coordinator

As the membership coordinator at Coffee Kids, I work with donors out of our administrative office in Santa Fe. I don’t often have the opportunity to see the projects we support in action, or meet the participants face to face. This was my second visit to Mexico, and my first time visiting remote coffee-growing communities.
In the communities that we visited, we were quick to notice the absence of women in the town meetings. They generally attended only when specifically invited, and they didn’t really serve on committees or participate in discussions.

It was a strange feeling to attend meetings filled with only men, especially since Coffee Kids staff is mostly women, including a female executive director. I wondered what the men thought about all of these women in prominent leadership roles.

I wondered if it makes them think about or question the status of women in their own community, or do they just think that modern American women are a strange anomaly?

It was clear to me that there is work to be done to empower women and create just, equitable gender relations in these communities. Carolyn Fairman explained that in other communities where we work, there have been great strides in promoting gender equity, especially where women’s savings groups have promoted a sense of solidarity and empowerment.

But it’s a delicate balance, respecting current cultural norms while also promoting human rights and civil liberties. Change has to come from within a particular community, and success is more likely when the men participate and support the change.