Banana Link and the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) facilitated workshops in Ghana in January with participants from Fairtrade Africa, the trade unions, the General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana (GAWU) and the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), the Fairtrade premium committee at GEL and GEL management, to devise an action to plan to improve and increase women’s employment at the plantation.

Workshop participants were responding to the findings of independent research into both the barriers to women’s employment and the challenges facing women already working at GEL. Interviews were conducted with men, women and leaders in the local community, as well as women workers at GEL, and the neighbouring banana plantation, Volta River Estates Limited (VREL).

The first of the workshops was for GEL management, including their Managing Director, Olivier Chassang, and Compagnie Fruitière’s Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Christelle Lasme, and the second was for workers’ representatives. The third and final workshop then brought both groups together, to collectively discuss and agree priorities for improving women’s employment.

The workshop also agreed the composition of an Advisory Committee, which would take forward activities to implement these initiatives, consisting of union representatives, women workers, IUF, Fairtrade Africa and management.

The priorities agreed on included:

• exploring task rotation to reduce repetitive strain injuries;
• an outreach programme involving women workers to raise awareness of work opportunities at GEL;
• consultation with and empowerment of women to be actively engaged in Collective Bargaining;
• and a gendered review of plantation tasks.