The Women of Shea Butter - Ojoba Women’s Shea Butter Cooperative

Ojoba Women’s Shea Butter Cooperative - EMPOWERING WOMEN

Empowering Women to Create Change

“Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property. Whether the issue is improving education in the developing world, or fighting global climate change, or addressing nearly any other challenge we face, empowering women is a critical part of the equation.”

-Former US President Bill Clinton addressing the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (9/09)

Women's Empowerment has been a primary focus of our work because it is widely recognized as a primary driver of poverty eradication around the world. Here are some of the ways women’s empowerment has transformed the communities where we work:

Increased Gender Equity

Traditionally, the villages where we work are polygamist societies. This means men can have more than one wife, and often, the wives are treated with less respect, have fewer rights, and are excluded from inheriting property. Today, women are recognized as more valuable members of society because they contribute economically to their families and communities. The difference in gender relations has made a huge positive impact in the region for women, men and children.

Reduction in Domestic Violence

In numerous interviews we have conducted with co-op members, we hear how relations with their husbands have improved, and incidences of domestic violence – which were considered endemic in the area – have gone down drastically.

This is due to two reasons: 1) Families are no longer under the terrible stress of living in extreme poverty, where every day is a struggle just to get by. 2) The social standing of women has improved.

Changes in Harmful Cultural Practices

Attitudes have also changed regarding traditional cultural practices such as female circumcision and scarification of the face. As the women continue to improve their standard of living and education, they are exposed to other cultural influences, and have decided on their own that these practices are no longer necessary.

Previously, female circumcision was considered necessary so their daughters could be married, and marriage was the only way to provide for their future. Now, education is considered a much more valuable way to provide for their future!

Spreading Social Solidarity and Democratic Ideals

Through the cooperative business model, with an emphasis on capacity building, thoughtful dialog, and lots of hands-on training, the women in the cooperative have become confident and engaged citizens of their communities.

Each woman has an equal say and vote on all issues facing the cooperative, and this group participation and decision making has filtered into the wider community. The shea facility has become a de-facto community center for the women, where they come together to share ideas, information and resources.

They have learned the value of working together and helping each other succeed. They have even voted that profits should be evenly split between all co-op members even if they are sick and unable to work, creating an informal safety net in a region where illness is a part of life.

Valuing Education for All

Since most of the adults in the community are illiterate, it was difficult for them to see the benefits of using their precious resources to send their children to school. Since family incomes have increased, and community members are being exposed to a lot of learning and new ideas about everything from basic literacy to composting, they have seen the value of education.

In many regions of the developing world, the education of girls falls way behind the education of boys because girls are considered a poor investment. But co-op members send all of their children to school. They’ve learned from personal experience what can happen when all members of society are valued.

Empowering Women creates Empowered Communities

The purpose of women’s empowerment is ultimately about achieving equality where everybody, no matter their gender, has an equal opportunity to thrive. When half of the world’s population is finally able to tap into their potential and contribute economically, socially, and politically to building a better world- everybody benefits.

The women share the burden of supporting their families economically, and there is more resources available for expanding farming yields, investing in livestock, and developing new micro-enterprises to diversify their income and strengthen the community. Rather than being stuck in the cycle of extreme poverty, villagers are full of hope and enthusiasm as they work toward a brighter future together.

The Ojoba Women's Shea Butter Cooperative is made up of 400 rural village women.

These women live under difficult circumstances as subsistence farmers in the arid northern region of Ghana, West Africa. They must cope with poor, rocky soil, unreliable rains, and little public infrastructure such as affordable transportation, communications, health care or education.

Before coming together to form the shea butter cooperative; many of the women were engaged in a daily struggle just to get by. Their subsistence crops of millet and groundnuts did not produce enough food to feed them and their children for the whole year, let alone allow them to save seeds for the following year, or sell any surplus at the market. In order to earn additional money to feed their families, and pay for school fees, many of the women resorted to back-breaking work such as firewood collection. Others were forced to leave their children with relatives while they searched for any type of menial work in the big cities far to the south. Still others were so poor that they had no choice but to give their children away to work as maids and servants just to ensure their children's survival.

Now, with the income produced by the purchase of Ojoba Collective shea butter; these women are finally seeing some real improvement in their lives. Not only can they feed themselves and their children, but all of their children are now enrolled in school. All the women are also enrolled in Ghana’s National Healthcare Plan, a first in the village. We also offer free adult literacy classes, and community classes on permaculture and basic healthcare.

There are intangible benefits as well. When we first started working with the group, they were very timid, and felt unable to bring about real change in their lives. But now they are feeling empowered and in-charge. They have also realized the value of working together and helping each other succeed. As one of the women said, "before [forming a cooperative] we didn't do things in common. But now we can come together as women and share ideas. Now we have confidence to work together and not be shy." For the first time, these women can dare to dream about a better future.

Who We Are

Ojoba Collective is a fair trade company co-founded by Johan and Tracy Wulfers in 2003 and based in Portland, Oregon. We work directly with women's cooperatives in rural Ghana to produce shea butter, baobab oil, and are in the process of developing other sustainable, plant derived natural bodycare ingredients. Read More...

Our Commitment

We started as a humanitarian project, and have never strayed from the original goal: helping to alleviate extreme poverty and empower villages in rural Africa, throug the sustainable production and sale of green cosmetics and ingredients. Read More...

The Importance of Fair Trade

As the name implies, Fair Trade means trading or doing business fairly and ethically. The business model of fair trade empowers workers and creates a greater equity in international trade through adhering to the nine socially and environmentally conscious principles listes below. Read More...

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