Bernadette is a partner coffee farmer from Munyinya hill in Burundi. She is also a member of the Kerebuka Coffee Association that encourages women involved in coffee to know their value. Her earliest memory of coffee was planting it together with husband just after they got married, to help raise their family.
What is your role in the coffee supply chain?
I am a coffee farmer.
What does a ‘’typical day’’ look like for you?
I spend my time doing farm work on our family’s land, and looking for food. I was also chosen by the government agronomists to supervise the agricultural activities happening on Munyinya hill.
Are there any challenges that exclude women from working in coffee?
From my experience, men often minimize a woman’s value. They say that we’re not able and we just accept that. We know that we are able, but the problem is that we’re scared to show our capacity. In Burundi, women have to wait for the men in our families to make the decisions. This is one of the reasons why I encourage women living on Munyinya hill to go to school. People who go to school have confidence.
An example that I can share is that some women in our association have had the courage to ask their husbands for their own coffee farms so that they can earn their own money. By doing this, they don’t have to rely on their husbands when deciding how this money should be spent. Unfortunately, some of these women still have to wait for their husbands to decide how to use their money.
What does gender equity in coffee look like?
The number of women in coffee is limited, and this needs to change for there to be gender equity in coffee.
Is there anything that you would like to learn or do to further your understanding of coffee?
No, I’m getting too old. I don’t need to learn more things.
Love her answer at the end.