Task Force on Gender Equity (GE-TF)

The Gender Equity Task Force (GE-TF) was established in Ecuador following the First Global Meeting of Women Banana Representatives in 2012, preceding the Second Conference of the World Banana Forum.

Objectives

  • Contribute to a better understanding of gender issues and realities faced by female workers along the global banana supply chain.
  • Ensure that women representatives of the global banana industry are actively involved in all decision-making processes that affect them.
  • Ensure that gender equity is a cross-cutting theme across the WBF's activities
  • Support collective action to achieve gender equity within the global banana industry.

Priorities and activities

FAO, together with members of the GE-TF, established five key priority areas and works streams under the task force, namely:

  1. Women’s empowerment
  2. Women’s employment opportunities
  3. Health and safety of women workers
  4. Violence and harassment
  5. Gender pay gap

The GE-TF holds at least six meetings annually to discuss priorities and plan collective actions. To address the challenges faced by women workers in the banana industry and to share best practices adopted by various stakeholders, the WBF regularly organizes international and multi-stakeholder meetings  focused on gender equity. Since 2012, four of these have taken place, with the most recent held in 2024, just before the start of the Fourth Global Conference.

The GE-TF ultimately supports knowledge generation activities to better understand the realities of women workers of the banana industry, at regional and global scales. In 2014, FAO, through the WBF, funded a series of publications titled, Women in the Banana Export Industry, which entailed a Global Overview and regional reports for Latin America, West and Central Africa, and the Caribbean. The findings from these reports have been useful to shape the priorities of the GE-TF above.

The Task Force is also committed to supporting tangible efforts and activities that advance its priority areas. Additionally, in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure the continuity of the GE-TF’s work, the WBF has organized a series of webinars focused on the various challenges and risks related to gender equity in the banana industry.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Task Force on Gender Equity, please email Victor Prada at [email protected] and/or the WBF Secretariat at [email protected].