{"id":28308,"date":"2020-04-02T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T10:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/?p=28308"},"modified":"2026-04-01T09:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:22:21","slug":"equal-legal-rights-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/press-and-media\/newsroom\/stories\/equal-legal-rights-for-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Equal legal rights for women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hard work in the fields, little money and often alone in caring for the family: women do not have an easy life, especially in poor countries. REWE Group is involved in numerous projects to improve the living and working conditions of women in its value chains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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As one of the leading retail and tourism companies in Retail Germany and Europe, REWE Group is aware of its special role as an intermediary between manufacturers, service providers and consumers. The company procures a large number of products and product components via supply chains that sometimes extend across several countries. Particularly in the cultivation of raw materials and in the agricultural sector, there is an increased risk of labor and social standards being disregarded.<\/p>\n

Women in particular are often affected by such abuses. According to current estimates, around 43 percent of agricultural work worldwide is carried out by women; in very poor countries, this figure is as high as 70 percent. At the same time, women often do not own their own land and have no access to credit or technical support. They spend around 90 percent of their earnings on feeding their families and educating their children. In addition, women are often affected by extreme poverty, especially at the age at which they have and care for children. Unpaid care work is also often expected of women as a matter of course.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Guidelines define strict standards<\/h2>\n

REWE Group is working to ensure that sustainability aspects are taken into account in every purchasing decision. The Group’s own guidelines are an important instrument for making the supply chains of critical products more sustainable. They define strict standards for the procurement of products. Our business partners undertake to treat all employees with respect. They pledge to refrain from any form of discrimination based on gender, origin or other reasons and ensure that all employees are paid the same wage for the same work. REWE Group explicitly aligns its actions with internationally applicable standards, including the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.<\/p>\n

For years, REWE Group has been committed to improving the living and working conditions of women, especially in its own value chains, and promoting fair trade through concrete projects and measures.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Incahuasi: Partnership with coffee farmers in Peru<\/h2>\n

Since 2009, REWE Group and the people of the Fairtrade coffee cooperative Valle de Incahuasi in Peru have enjoyed a special partnership. The cooperative produces REWE Feine Welt coffee, which is Fairtrade and organic certified. REWE Group has issued a purchase guarantee for the coffee – this gives the members of the cooperative stability and planning security. The cooperative consists of 488 members, 84 of whom are women. The members of the cooperative live in 13 communities. In each community, there is a women’s committee that deals with food security, training and income-generating measures specifically for women, for example through subsidies for planting vegetable gardens, support for small businesses or training in coffee quality control and basic business management skills. The cooperative is currently planning to set up an overarching women’s committee to represent the 84 female members. It is also working on a gender guideline.<\/p>\n

As part of its long-standing cooperation, the REWE Group offers further training (“Women school of Ledership”) specifically for female farmers. This strengthens the participation of women within the cooperative. Women are encouraged to take an active role in the cooperative’s decision-making processes. The project also includes workshops on better agricultural practices. Here, too, care is taken to ensure that women take part in the training courses. These training courses cover topics such as Sowing and growing seedlings for coffee plants<\/q> and “Taking soil samples”.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Fanteakwa: Alliance with cocoa cooperative in Ghana<\/h2>\n

Since 2019, REWE has been working with Fairtrade and the Fanteakwa cocoa farmers’ cooperative in Ghana to establish a new, physically traceable supply chain for chocolate. The products will reach stores in fall 2020; raw cocoa is currently being purchased. Fanteakwa has a total of 2134 members, 761 of whom are women. The low income of many women was identified as a specific challenge, so the cooperative specifically supports additional income-generating measures for women, including the production and sale of baked goods, beekeeping and snail and mushroom farming. In addition, Fanteakwa supports the formation of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), which specifically support women with a self-managed, solidarity-based microcredit system at community level.<\/p>\n

Fanteakwa has set up a program for 100 young farmers (30 of whom are women), providing training, small loans and initial materials to enable these young people to start growing cocoa.<\/p>\n

The chocolate sets new standards in terms of Sustainability and support for smallholder farmers. Firstly, it is Fairtrade-certified. This means that the small farmers’ cooperative benefits from the Fairtrade standards, the Fairtrade minimum price and the additional Fairtrade premium paid by REWE. On the other hand, REWE pays an additional premium to those farmers who supply raw cocoa for our chocolate in order to close the gap to a living income calculated by Fairtrade.<\/p>\n

Together with Fairtrade and the GIZ, additional activities will be implemented over the next few years to promote good cultivation practices, improve the efficiency and quality of the cooperative’s services for members and for income generation measures.<\/p>\n

The trading relationship with REWE thus makes an important contribution to filling the certification with life, securing the existence and further development of the cooperative and enabling new premium projects.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Central America Fund: Investments in education<\/h2>\n

REWE has been committed to the responsible cultivation of bananas and pineapples as well as fair working conditions along the supply chains of these two fruits for many years. Through the Central America Fund, founded in 2014, the retail brand supports projects in the growing regions with the aim of improving the living conditions of local people and protecting biodiversity. The campaign has already provided a total of 4 million euros in funding.<\/p>\n

In addition to ecological improvements, investments were also made in the expansion of local educational facilities. Daycare and kindergarten places have been created for 115 children. The improved childcare facilities strengthen the autonomy of mothers, who can generate income for their families through paid work. The investment in improving education lays the foundation for greater equality and equal opportunities for all pupils.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Pro-Planteurs: Support for cocoa farmers in C\u00f4te d’Ivoire<\/h2>\n

As a founding member of the multi-stakeholder initiative Forum for Sustainable Cocoa, REWE Group, together with other companies, supports the Pro-Planteurs project, which is being implemented together with the German federal government and the Ivorian government and was launched in 2015. Within five years, 20,000 cocoa farmers and their producer organizations are to be professionalized in order to increase their income and improve the living conditions of their families. The project in the eastern and south-eastern regions of C\u00f4te d’Ivoire aims to give women in particular the opportunity to optimize their own income in order to create a better food base for their families.<\/p>\n

Pro-Planteurs also supports women in other activities such as the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products. The increase in income and a more balanced diet should improve the living conditions of local families. Together with the National Nutrition Program of C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, Pro-Planteurs has trained 41 women from the cooperatives newly selected in 2018 as agricultural advisors.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Cotton made in Africa: Help for women in Zambia<\/h2>\n

There are many social challenges in the cultivation of cotton. Fluctuating world market prices lead to uncertain incomes, pesticides can endanger health and when children have to work instead of going to school, human rights are violated. REWE Group’s involvement in the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) initiative helps African smallholder farmers to help themselves. They learn efficient and environmentally friendly cultivation methods in agricultural training courses. This ensures higher quality products and increases farmers’ incomes. In addition, cooperation projects in the areas of education and women’s empowerment support local communities.<\/p>\n

In Africa, it is predominantly women who do most of the work in the fields, run the household and look after the well-being of the family. To enable them to take the step towards economic and social independence, REWE Group has been supporting women’s groups in rural Zambia since 2018 as part of the CmiA in realizing their business ideas – through start-up financing or training. Strengthening their position and legal rights not only benefits the women, but ultimately also their families and the entire community.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Fairtrade roses: better care for mothers in Kenya<\/h2>\n

in 2007, REWE Group was the first food retailer in Germany to offer fairly traded cut roses from East Africa in REWE and PENNY stores. Most of these roses bearing the PRO Planet seal come from Kenya. They consume a lot of water there. Pesticides are often harmful to the health of the workers and the environment. That is why PRO PLANET roses come exclusively from Fairtrade flower farms. The Fairtrade seal obliges producers to limit the use of chemicals and to pay workers fairly. Child and forced labor is prohibited.<\/p>\n

In addition, REWE Group is committed to improving the health situation of local people: With a donation of 100,000 euros to the “Friends of Naivasha Hospital Fund”, REWE Group is supporting the construction of a women’s ward in the Kenyan city of Naivasha. In this way, it is helping to ensure that mothers and their children receive adequate medical care after giving birth and in the first years of life.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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