International Tea Day - Time to Talk About the Hidden Cost of Your Brew

The UK now drinks over 100 million cups of tea every day—but how often do we think about the people behind the leaves?

Across global tea supply chains, women workers continue to face gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), poor pay, and unsafe conditions. At Women Working Worldwide, we’ve spent decades working to change this, including through our recent collaboration with THIRST, (the international roundtable on sustainable tea), tackling human rights abuses and GBVH in the tea sector – see our groundbreaking report – “Consent. Just consent then you can come to work”.

This #InternationalTeaDay, we reflect on the progress made—but also share our concern in the attached media release at the quiet demise of Typhoo Tea’s Fear Free Tea initiative, which had taken real steps to address these critical issues. We call on the rest of the tea industry to have the vision and values of the old Typhoo and work with us to make all tea fear free.  

We stand with women tea workers around the world and call for renewed commitments to human rights, gender equity, and safe, fair supply chains.

#TeaWithRespect #HumanRights #GBVH #GenderEquity #TeaIndustry #SustainableSourcing #InternationalTeaDay2025 #WomenWorkers #BusinessAndHumanRights #WomensRights

WWW TEA STATEMENT .pdf

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