The project – funded by sustainability standards organization ISEAL – will not only identify real success stories that can inspire targeted interventions, but it will also provide lessons that will benefit cotton farming countries around the world.
Better Cotton said it will work closely in the coming year with two program partners in the country, Cotton Connect India and WWF India, who together support more than 125,000 Better Cotton-licensed farmers in Maharashtra and Telangana.
The goal is to understand their recruitment strategies and retain more women in leadership roles in the organization. As part of the process, community-focused roles – such as Producer Unit Managers and Field Facilitators – were identified as an area for investment and strengthening.
Better Cotton added that the results will help develop and streamline mechanisms to support women in the cotton sector as it works towards its 2030 impact target2 on women’s empowerment.
Jyoti Narain Kapoor, director of the Better Cotton India programme, highlighted that women are the foundation of cotton farming communities across India, but too often their contributions go unrecognized and unrewarded.
According to her, this research project will help support the organization’s efforts for women empowerment in the country by studying what works and what doesn’t.
Senior manager for gender equality at Better Cotton, Nini Mehrotra, believes one of the best ways to empower women in agricultural roles is to empower women in community-based organizations.
Mehrotra stated, “It is a uniquely supportive relationship that brings technical knowledge, safe space, inspiration and modeling all together. Coming from the same communities, women facilitators have a deep understanding of the challenges that women farmers and growers struggle with. Because they are Even those who are agronomic experts in this field, their presence speaks volumes about what is possible for women in farming communities.”
Better Cotton underlined the critical role of women in India’s cotton growing regions, noting that they continually face significant barriers to advancement. The organization explained that these challenges stem from cultural and societal barriers, including limited access to education, restrictions on independent travel, and unpaid domestic and care work that falls disproportionately on them.
Recently, Better Cotton has released its 2023-2024 annual report and launched public consultations for revisions to the Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard and Claims Framework.
“Better Cotton spearheads India project to empower women in cotton sector” was originally created and published by Simply stylea brand owned by GlobalData.
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