Tea, like many agricultural industries, relies on a female workforce. Women make up the majority of tea pickers and farmers in many countries but they are underrepresented at senior managerial levels. Tea is a high-impact crop in Tanzania. There is no doubt that women and youth play key roles in tea upstream production.

However, according to a study conducted in 2018 by IDH in Mufindi District, many tea farmers (72%) who receive agricultural advice and inputs are male, even though most of the work is done by women. The study further indicated that women had limited opportunities to participate in training, sharing from tea income, and decision making as these often are open only to the registered (male) heads of household. Similarly, youths (who represent 67% of the national labor force) remained underrepresented in farming and decision making; they also actively participated in cooperative societies, mostly those that focus on savings and credit services. 

To end this gap in the tea sector, Jidi conducted training to incorporate leadership and gender values to members of the tea cooperative in the Southern regions of Tanzania. Women groups from 35 different tea cooperatives from Mufindi, Njombe, Rungwe, and Busokelo in Iringa received training, on leadership and gender equality which empowered these women in self transformational skills and opened up room for women to discuss the challenges they face in their respective communities. 

It is well known that when women are empowered, they have outstanding capabilities and have proven to be trustworthy leaders in various institutions. It is not that different in the tea cooperatives, only that the dominance of the patriarchal system undermines women’s ability in leadership. Despite possessing all the qualities of an effective leader, women still faced several challenges and numerous factors that hindered them from effectively executing their leadership tasks or becoming leaders in their cooperatives. These setbacks include; Conflicts in the cooperatives and rigid laws set by the cooperatives that have limited women to implement them. Men despise women leaders by not attending meetings and thinking they are incapable of leading them. Maternity and motherhood. Lack of confidence and fear of taking risks. Social and domestic responsibilities.

We hope that women and men who received this training were impacted with knowledge, skills, and transformational spirit to be change-makers in their respective cooperatives and communities.