How Coffee’s Stimulation of Women’s Political and Economic Empowerment is More than Froth
Necessity and convenience are the mothers of invention and often the catalyst for women’s innovations as they push toward equality in a male dominated space. The world of coffee is no different. From the rise of coffee as a popular beverage, women have had impact and been impacted by the industry, and their increasing presence indicates they are just getting started.
(Amalie Auguste) Melitta Bentz
In 1908, German housewife, Melitta Bentz, became German inventor and patent holder thanks to her frustrations with over-brewed coffee full of grounds. Employing her son’s school blotting paper and a brass pot punched with a nail, she created a coffee filter that was the beginning of the eponymous company that is still at the forefront of the industry today. Her husband and sons were the first employees. Even after transferring the majority shares to her sons, she kept a hand in the business, ensuring that the employees were cared for, offering Christmas bonuses, increasing vacation days from 6 to 15 days per year, and reducing the working week to 5 days. Bentz fostered the company's "Melitta Aid" system, a social fund for company employees, making her a leader in the intersectionality of women and laborers.
Perhaps Melitta Bentz has Germany’s more liberal approach to women in coffeehouses to thank for the success of her ventures. Coffee was introduced to Europe from Arabia right around the time that the “average Joe” was beginning to have disposable income. One of the ways people used their new ability to purchase for pleasure was the phenomenon of coffeehouses. Royalty and high society were convinced that these establishments were havens of ill repute. The social discourse that took place among men was already a threat to the aristocracy of the day, and the idea of women being exposed to political and business conversations and transactions was considered intolerable. France and England attempted to ban women altogether. Only Germany made allowances for women to attend public performances but limited to the Cafe Zimmerman. Even the cafe’s director and composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” is based on the story of a father’s attempt to break his daughter’s devotion to her three coffee a day habit and her eventual victory when she had her habit written into her marriage contract. A small celebration of female empowerment poking fun at the societal rules. Women who attended those spaces were portrayed as sex workers even though coffeehouses offered them legitimate business opportunities including running the coffeehouses.
Today, women are frequently found in the production side of the industry. Pickers, managers, co-op members and small farm owners are often women who are working to elevate their economic circumstances and those of their families. The work is hard for limited pay. You can get an idea of a typical day here https://perfectdailygrind.com/2018/02/a-day-in-a-coffee-producers-life/.
There are far fewer women to be found in the male dominated field of coffee roasting. Concrete data about the numbers of women in this aspect of the field is impacted by the fact that women’s labor, sexual discrimination, and harassment often go under-reported; and there are difficulties in measuring and corroborating information. Lack of mentorship, stereotypes and misogyny have played a part as well. A stark example was the 2016 U.S Roaster championships that had 40 competitors none of whom were women, but organizations like She’s the Roaster, a mentorship program for women, are trying to change that. In 2019, the first women won the US barista championship and women had a very strong showing in the finals of all categories of the U.S. CoffeeChamps. On the producer side, the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) are supporting women in different roles in coffee-producing countries and encouraging them to share their stories and perspectives.
Vienna Coffee Roastery Staff (Ann Hilt, Haylee Johnson, Heather Murrell, Missy Leinert, Jessica Hannah, Bonnie Proctor, Sue Clark (not pictured))
Vienna Coffee Company recognizes that supporting women in all aspects of the coffee supply chain improves the quality of specialty coffee overall. We are proud to have a talented staff of hard-working women including our roaster, Missy, who’s been with us since 2002, sales manager, packaging associates, finance manager, office manager, and co-owner. Our Coffee House staff is also majority female including the manager, baristas, kitchen staff, and catering manager. As you can see, we have women represented in all aspects of our company as well host organizations, such as the Women in Entrepreneurship, Blount County in our coffee house.
On the producer side, we work with organizations like Café Femenino who “provide direct compensation to women farmers, along with the opportunity and resources to enact positive change in their communities and on their own terms.” This month’s featured coffee is our Organic Sumatra from Cafe Femenino. Read more about this incredible coffee and the women producers who created it. We believe that women are an integral part of our success and growth, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion efforts as a business and a member of the coffee community.
Sources:
https://www.womenincoffee.org/what-we-do
https://www.baristamagazine.com/2020-u-s-barista-champ-andrea-allen-on-women-in-coffee/
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/how-coffee-drinking-helped-advance-womens-rights/
https://perfectdailygrind.com/2018/03/women-in-the-coffee-industry-what-you-should-know/
https://www.coffeereview.com/women-in-coffee-why-it-matters-that-shes-the-roaster/
https://dailycoffeenews.com/2018/03/08/supporting-the-coffee-industry-requires-supporting-women/
https://joecoffeecompany.com/celebrating-1-year-of-the-women-in-coffee-project/
Author - Mona Bronson-Fuqua
Mona Bronson-Fuqua is a life-long Cincinnati resident, graduate of Cincinnati Cooks and Cincinnati State in Culinary Management. Currently Mona teaches Cooking for the Family classes through St. Francis Seraph Ministries and teaches classes, consults, provides personal chef service and media management for food and food adjacent entities through her own business Je Nais Se Fuqua LLC. Mona also has taught at Artichoke on Findlay Market and Communiversity - UC.
"My goal is to apply my skills to education about food ways and their health impact especially as it affects the African-American community ." ~ Mona