Sometimes called “women’s gold,” shea’s skyrocketing
popularity
as a food and cosmetic ingredient has created potential for both economic
opportunity and exploitation of women. Shea harvest and processing is undertaken
predominantly by women, who suffer disproportionately from risks associated with
running and maintaining a small business in the ingredient’s native region of
central Africa. In Ghana alone, shea provides economic opportunity to
470,000
women; and
illustrating the adage “when women rise, they take others with them,” these
women use their shea income to pay for their children’s education, food and
healthcare, inextricably tying the shea supply chain to the wellbeing of women
and their families.
As a major purchaser of shea, Estée Lauder
Companies (ELC) sees investments in the
women who cultivate it as water that lifts all boats.
“When you invest in women, you see that they will in turn invest in their family
and their community at large,” said Mindi
DeLeary, head of Global
Responsible Sourcing at ELC, on a pre-recorded
video
made available to Sustainable Brands®. “So, you see this really
beautiful ripple effect that goes beyond your initial investment.”
With support from the Estée Lauder Companies Charitable
Foundation
(ELCCF), Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)
developed and piloted a financial-resilience training
program
for women in northern Ghana’s shea supply chain — women who have historically
lacked control over resources, training and education, and financial
independence.
ELCCF complements the work of the Responsible Sourcing team at ELC through
philanthropic investments to help overcome the gaps and challenges that stand in
the way of achieving ELC’s social and environmental responsibility
goals.
ELCCF’s portfolio of work supports programs at the intersection of environmental
sustainability and social impact, including investments in communities around
the ELC supply chain — such as a program improving conditions and livelihoods
for plastic-waste
collectors
in India.
Starting in 2022, BSR launched pilot projects in the Ghanaian communities of
Janshegu and Mole Crema. Women in these communities didn’t need help
harvesting or processing shea (they’ve been doing it for thousands of years,
after all). What they wanted was financial literacy to improve their profits,
invest in their communities, and leave brighter prospects for their children. 80
local female shea workers volunteered as peer educators — leading discussions on
workplace-based interventions to promote financial resilience and gender equity.
The program has reached 1000 women with financial training aimed at helping
women start, run, maintain, and grow their shea operations and leverage their
resources for healthier communities.
At the start of the program, fewer than half of all women in both Janshegu and
Mole Crema:
By the end of the program, 98 to 100 percent of the same women had incorporated
these financial tools into their daily lives.
The shea pilot program builds on the success of a BSR program launched with two
of ELC’s packaging suppliers in 2020. The shea program is now being adapted to
pilot a new BSR initiative engaging women in the palm supply chain in
Indonesia. Both shea and palm are known sensitive ingredients in ELC’s
supply chain, each with their own social and environmental
risks
— making sourcing these sensitive ingredients a complicated business.
“As a company, we do not believe in walking away from a sensitive supply chain
simply because it poses complex
issues,”
said Rachel Tulchin,
Executive Director of Philanthropic Partnerships at ELC. “Due to the complexity
of many ingredient supply chains, a 360° approach is needed; and social
investments can be a solution to improving livelihoods and making a positive
impact.”
As such, these sensitive ingredients are the focus of ELCCF’s broader efforts to
expand equity in supply chains and encourage the broader beauty industry to join
its ranks. Like the Ghana shea program, the Indonesia palm program is designed
to provide a scalable workplace-intervention model beyond the pilot project.
“The [shea] pilot provided evidence that this program is meeting a need for
women workers in shea; and I’m happy to report that stakeholders across industry
have now expressed interest in getting involved,” Tulchin said. “The
continuation of this partnership will work to develop a scale of this model; so,
these trainings and learnings can become available for others across the shea
industry and beyond.”
ELC sees its outsized influence as an important lever for starting and scaling
systemic change. But the company knows it’ll take more than a few publicized
pilot projects to move the needle.
“When it comes to gender equity in supply
chains,
the work isn’t done,” DeLeary said. “We hope that through this pilot program, we
can demonstrate impact and some key learnings that we can take and apply further
into new agricultural settings and to new geographies; and we also hope that by
sharing the story and the success that we can inspire others to action.”
“Global challenges require collaboration, innovation and creativity,” Tulchin
said. “Advancing gender equality, racial equity, diversity and inclusion, and
supporting communities are complex spaces and require a longer-term view. We are
excited about the journey we are on to work with others — across industries and
sectors — to accomplish more at scale, together.”
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Christian is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, and outdoor junkie obsessed with the intersectionality between people and planet. He partners with brands and organizations with social and environmental impact at their core, assisting them in telling stories that change the world.
Published May 4, 2023 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST