A Coffee Farmer’s Journey to Gender Equality in Agriculture
Doris dreamed of being a coffee farmer, but living in a society with little gender equality in agriculture silenced her ambitions. Discover how Doris persevered to find her voice as a coffee farmer in Guatemala.
Doris Perez knows coffee. She grew up on a coffee farm in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, an area in the northwest that depends mainly on coffee cultivation. As a child, Doris watched her parents grow and sell the crop, and by age eight, she was helping on the farm. She took pride in understanding the business and learning to grow coffee. But as she got older, her parents discouraged her from farmwork. Instead, they encouraged her to stay home and learn to be a housewife. Her years of experience went to waste at the expense of her parents’ farm and her future. Across Guatemala, the lack of gender equality in agriculture is holding many farms back.
Limiting Women, Losing Opportunities
In Guatemala, women comprise half the population, yet many cannot participate in the economy. According to the World Bank, 40% of women participate in the labor force, compared to 80% of men. Instead, women often shoulder the majority of household chores and family care, spending 7.5 times as much time on unpaid domestic work than men, which reduces their availability for other work. Though Guatemala’s economy is growing, the country is missing out on a valuable asset for progress—women’s skills, knowledge, and perspectives.
Despite the challenges related to gender equality in agriculture, Doris never gave up on coffee. She explained,
“I felt sad when my family told me I could not be on the farm because I was a woman. They believed women had to only care for themselves and serve in the house. This situation hurt me, but at the same time, it motivated me to continue working and growing coffee.”
Doris eventually married a coffee farmer and followed her dream of operating a coffee farm with her husband. Still, after 30 years of experience in coffee farming, she often held back her opinions from her family, afraid that they would react poorly to a woman giving business advice or making decisions.
Criticism from the surrounding community further undermined her confidence in participating on the farm. Neighbors in the community—men and women—derided her when she showed up wearing rubber boots, pants, and a T-shirt, typical clothes for men. They also criticized her for carrying out tasks performed by men, such as paying workers, fertilizing, cutting firewood, and using tools. Doris’ skills and experience were unappreciated simply due to her gender.
Finding Her Voice: A Path to Leadership
With the help of a TechnoServe program, Doris finally found her voice. Doris’ family discovered the Empowered Families, Thriving Communities Project, a part of Nespresso’s AAA Sustainable Quality Program that is implemented by TechnoServe and funded by Nespresso. The program is designed to empower families with social and economic skills to improve their overall well-being and to connect them to Nespresso’s supply chains in Guatemala. Doris attended leadership and entrepreneurship training, which encouraged her to embrace her experience as a coffee grower and provided the tools and confidence to assume a leadership role on the farm.
The program included sessions to help families recognize women as assets to their farms. Doris said that while her husband had always been supportive of her, she struggled to communicate with him because she felt bound by her gender. With new tools to improve the way they share ideas, she feels a greater equality in their work. After attending sessions with Doris, her husband also has the tools to foster her confidence.
“My husband and I make a plan for the month together. Now, we talk and make decisions about our home expenses, our children, and the coffee farm. Even when our economic situation is tough, we both work to get ahead and create a good example for our children, who are the most important thing.”
The program also sought to strengthen entire families, both emotionally and physically. Doris learned the importance of providing her children with nutritious meals. She now prepares a variety of dishes using local ingredients to promote her family’s health. Just as importantly, she and her husband use tools from the training to create an atmosphere of respect and openness.
“From the different workshops, I have learned how important it is to highlight the value of the family and to support each member so that they feel in harmony, and so their work is recognized and valued.”
New Hope for a New Generation
Doris hopes she can empower her daughters to find their voices and follow their dreams. She encourages Jasmin (18) and Baireny Elizabeth (10) to participate in tasks and activities inside and outside the home, instilling confidence in them. Doris wants them to develop critical thinking skills and question whether an activity is only for men.
Each day, she tells them about her work on the farm as a real-life example that women do not have to be confined to a specific type of job. Doris wants her daughters to understand the value of their work and the opportunities that are available to them instead of being restricted by their gender. She hopes they will develop in the career of their choice. Jasmin wants to be a doctor, and Baireny Elizabeth dreams of being a teacher.
“My duty is to guide them and orient them with principles and values so that they can develop academically and personally, with families of their own. To achieve this, my husband and I support them. We believe that they will obtain a career through attending university, which will be important for their lives.”
Doris’ Dreams
Doris dreams of continuing to study education and working as a teacher in her community. She believes it is important to share her knowledge, principles, and values with the next generation. Doris has high aspirations for the future of women in Guatemala.
“In the future, women will not experience what I have experienced since I was a child, being conditioned to work only at home. Women and men should have the same opportunities, and we should live in a fairer country.”
Despite the frustrating limits imposed by the culture, Doris holds on to her dream and believes that the future will be different.
“It is never too late for anything. Learning is continuous. You never stop learning.”
Learn more about TechnoServe’s work to empower women across the world.
