The cotton value chain: the ILO promoting fair work and gender equality

This event, held in Benin, highlights the key role of cotton in creating jobs for millions of people, especially in developing countries. However, it is essential that these operations are reasonable and fair to promote inclusive growth and fight poverty.

Ndeye Coumba Diop, ILO Country Office Director for Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Togo, explains the importance of fair and sustainable cotton

Ndeye Coumba Diop, Director of the ILO Country Office for Côte d’Ivoire, representing Gilbert Houngbo, Director General of the ILO at this high-level event, participated in a panel on empowering women in this value chain. She insisted that although women represent the majority of workers in the cotton, textile and clothing sectors, they are often still in precarious and poorly paid positions. “Women make up about 65% of the cotton picking workforce and 80% in the global textile industry, but they rarely reach management positions,” she lamented.

Changing the cotton value chain

The ILO works actively with governments and businesses through programs such as IPEC+ and Better Work to ensure that workers’ rights are respected. This includes eliminating child labour, forced labor and discrimination, while ensuring rights such as freedom of association, collective bargaining and safe working conditions.

To empower women, the ILO recommends adequate training, better skills and more social protection. In Côte d’Ivoire, for example, the ILO is working with the government to improve the working conditions of women in the agricultural sector, by providing health and maternity protection.

Exploiting business opportunities for fair and sustainable cotton

In a globalized world, trade agreements provide an opportunity to promote good work. The integration of social clauses, including gender equality, in regional and international agreements, encourages companies to respect labor standards.

World Cotton Day is also an opportunity for the ILO to strengthen its partnerships with international institutions such as the WTO, FAO and the International Cotton Council (ICC). By coming together, these organizations are committed to transforming the cotton value chain into a driver of social justice and gender equality.