Equal Origins Launches 'Raise Your Cup' to Spotlight Women Who Grow Your Coffee
The United Nations designated 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer. Equal Origins is making sure the coffee industry pays attention.
The nonprofit has launched “Raise Your Cup,” a social media campaign timed for Women’s History Month that asks coffee drinkers to photograph themselves with a cup in hand and share it with the hashtags #IYWF2026 and #raiseyourcup. The premise is simple. The message is not.
“Raise Your Cup is designed to be a low-barrier, highly visible way to shine a light on work that, far too often, is unseen and therefore undervalued,” said Kimberly Easson, founder and president of Equal Origins.
The Numbers Behind the Invisible Workforce
Women perform an estimated 70 percent of the labor in coffee production globally. They plant seeds, tend seedlings, pick cherries at peak ripeness, and sort beans for quality. Yet they own less than 20 percent of coffee farmland and receive a fraction of the income their work generates.
The disparity shows up in nearly every metric. Women in coffee-producing regions have less access to credit, training programs, and agricultural extension services. When coffee cooperatives pay premiums for quality lots, the checks typically go to male landowners.
Equal Origins has spent a decade documenting these patterns across 23 countries, working directly with more than 500,000 farming families. The organization grew out of the Coffee Quality Institute in 2014 as a research initiative to understand links between gender equity and supply chain resilience. It has since become an independent nonprofit under Easson’s leadership.
Tools for Change
Beyond hashtags, Equal Origins is promoting its Gender Equity Index—a free diagnostic tool that helps coffee companies assess their current practices and identify concrete steps toward improvement. The index examines hiring, wages, leadership representation, and farmer-facing programs.
The Raise Your Cup campaign marks the first activation of Kindred Sparks, Equal Origins’ new non-competitive initiative designed to encourage businesses to adopt gender equity practices without the pressure of rankings or certifications.
“We wanted to create something accessible,” Easson explained. “Not every company is ready for a full audit. But every company can start a conversation about who does the work and who gets the credit.”
Why Specialty Coffee Should Care
The specialty coffee movement has always valued transparency and direct relationships with producers. Single-origin bags often feature farm names, processing methods, and tasting notes. But the human stories behind those beans—particularly the women’s contributions—frequently go untold.
As consumers grow more sophisticated about sourcing, they’re asking harder questions. They want to know who picked their coffee, under what conditions, and whether the supply chain treats workers fairly.
The International Year of the Woman Farmer provides a framework for those conversations. And campaigns like Raise Your Cup offer specialty roasters and cafes an opportunity to participate without waiting for new certifications or supply chain overhauls.
How to Join
Anyone can participate in Raise Your Cup. The requirements: a coffee cup, a camera, and social media accounts. Tag @equalorigins and use #IYWF2026 and #raiseyourcup. Branded templates and shareable graphics are available through the Equal Origins website.
The campaign runs through March, coinciding with International Women’s Day on March 8. But the conversation it’s trying to spark has no end date.