Women in Leadership: Creating Opportunity in Tea

Growing Communities

The Republic of Tea is proud to support the Women in Leadership program, an initiative developed in partnership with the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) to help women in tea-growing communities across India and Sri Lanka build confidence, strengthen their voices and pursue leadership opportunities.

Tea has the power to connect people, from the gardens where it is grown to the Citizens who enjoy it every day. We believe those connections come with a responsibility to help support the people and communities at the heart of tea.

In 2016, The Ethical Tea Partnership began the Women of Tea program to support women in the tea industry in across Sri Lanka. Building on the success of this program, the Women in Leadership program was started in 2024 to advance gender equality and create more opportunities for women to participate and lead within tea-growing communities in Assam, India and Sri Lanka.

What Is the Women in Leadership Program?

Over 78,000 lives touched. Our Women in Leadership program with ETP is transforming what leadership looks like in tea-growing communities across India and Sri Lanka.

Women in Leadership (WiL) is designed to promote gender equality and empower women to assume leadership roles.

Working with women tea workers, estate management, young people, men and other community members, the program combines:

• Leadership development
• Gender equality education
• Financial inclusion and financial literacy
• Digital literacy
• Community engagement
• Institutional strengthening

Rather than addressing a single barrier, Women in Leadership takes a broader approach—helping women develop practical skills and confidence while also engaging the families, workplaces and communities around them.

Growing Leadership

When women lead, communities thrive. Our Women in Leadership initiative is proof — 96.7% of participating women report improved confidence to speak up and be heard.

The initial phase used approaches tailored to the needs of each region. Across over 38 tea gardens, the program directly reached over 16,000 people and indirectly reached another 67,.

Participating women in the program reported:

• Increased confidence speaking in meetings
• An improved ability to express their opinions
• Stronger negotiation skills
• Improved decision-making abilities
• More involvement in household decision-making
• Stronger family support for taking on leadership roles in their communities
• Strengthened knowledge of budgeting, savings, financial planning, digital literacy and social protection

Our Commitment

WiL has made a significant contribution towards strengthening women’s confidence, leadership, participation, and voice in tea plantation communities in Sri Lanka and India.

At The Republic of Tea, enriching lives through the experience of premium tea also means recognizing the people and communities who make that experience possible.

Our support of Women in Leadership reflects our commitment to investing in a stronger, more equitable tea sector, one where women can build skills, make their voices heard and help shape the future of their families and their communities.

What's Next for Women in Leadership?

The initial phase built a strong foundation. Now, the work is evolving, and future work will aim to build on the initial momentum and learnings. Future Women in Leadership endeavors will seek to:

• Deepen work on women's and youth leadership
• Gender equality
• Financial inclusion
• Workplace systems
• Social protection

The Republic of Tea will continue to support the Women in Leadership initiative to foster an inclusive tea sector where women and youth from tea garden communities have increased participation, decision making power and access to opportunities in the workplace, community and household.