Disenfranchized Women

In collaboration with those creating A Small Section of the World, Alanis Morissette wrote “The Morning” to give a voice to the women in ASOMOBI through song and lyrics (2014). These lyrics encompass what it means to be a woman around the world, and what it means to collaborate with other women. Because many women around the world still face economic and environmental sexism and racism it is important to allow women to tell their own stories and fight against the struggles they face.
Disenfranchised women face the brunt of this reality by the denial of access to resources, well paying jobs, and ability to have autonomy in their lives. While women continue to challenge this around the world, it is important to remember how much change and

good women who work together can do for their communities and women everywhere around the world. The documentary, A Small Section of the World, shares a powerful story of women working together to start a coffee production business called ASOMOBI and the challenges they faced which is perfectly encompassed in lyrics above (2014). Because they are able to work together in the community, they are able to create a better life for themselves and their families.
In 1997, women in a small rural area of Costa Rica were faed with very tough times. Their community saw an economic downturn and their husbands, sons, and brothers, left the community in order to find work so they could support their families. Left behind in their community, the women got together to discuss what they could do to economically revitalize their community. They had a difficult decision in front of them, because they faced many barriers to their choices for creating opportunities for themselves. They decided to start a coffee making business to sell coffee beans because they knew that people bought and drank coffee year round. This was a difficult endeavor because many of these women did not know where to start or how to run a business, but this did not stop them-they were determined.
From the beginning, the women, families, community, the coffee industry, and Costa Rica were impacted by the success or downfall of ASOMOBI.

While those living in the community had the highest stakes in the share of the business, the coffee industry and Costa Rica also are impacted by the success of ASOMOBI because as a business made up of all women, it changed the gendered labor of coffee bean makers and contributed to Costa Rica through taxes and economic stability of a small region. What is important to also recognize is that women on a global scale are also impacted by the success of ASOMOBI. When women around the world hear their story, they will feel empowered to create change in their own communities and give women opportunities to be empowered through success of women. It is a great thing for women to empower other women around the world. Through this empowerment, women may be able to fight against the stigma they face in their own communities and bring economic stability through their own empowerment to their communities.
The women in this small rural farming community in Costa Rica came together to empower themselves and keep their community from falling deeper into economic decline. When they first started, they had no idea how to run a business or produce coffee. After reaching out to women working in the coffee industry, they began to learn the process of production and how to sustain a business. Through learning techniques through programs available to them and

never giving up through the years, even the years in which they spent hours there and never made any revenue, they were able to be successful.
In the story of building ASOMOBI, the women working on this project faced many challenges. They were often stigmatized from the men in the community, as well as stigmatized for entering the coffee industry, because women did not often work and often stayed home to take care of the family while men brought home money to support the family. However, once they proved that they were not going to give up even though they faced many challenges ahead, the men in the community came out to help build the business. There was also an idea in the coffee industry that since they were all women they could not produce coffee that was worth buying. However, they continued to learn and moving forward in spite of the stigma they faced in these respects.
Lack of education of the coffee industry, coffee production, and stigma in the community, were not the only set-backs they faced. After they finished building a place for visitors of ASOMOBI to stay, the building caught on fire. In A Small Section of the World, it is apparent that the fire the experienced was a very traumatic experience for the women. They had worked so hard to build the business and it meant jobs lost and income lost. While this was also a significant set-back to their success, they were strong enough as a community of women to continue moving forward in growing their business.
The years, the hard work, and the connection to their business paid off. Eventually, ASOMOBI started selling on a global scale and their product was bought by corporations such as illy. With the success of their business, they were still invested in giving back to the community that had supported them through the years of hard work. Their revenue allowed more income to go into community things such as the school system and further growth of the community. Their children were also given more opportunities to go to school and get higher degrees. The children were able to be successful in school and bring their education back to ASOMOBI in order to continue to build the business they felt so proud of and connected to.
The story of ASOMOBI and what a community can do once they come together is a powerful reminder of what it takes to be successful and the ability for women to create a better life for themselves and their communities.

I think their method of producing opportunities for themselves ended up working very well. The sustainability of ASOMOBI shows what women can do to create change within their own community and the impact they can have across the globe and for the following generation of women. The women in this community were faced with many difficulties and no opportunities to create a better lives for themselves and their family. I do not think there is anything else they could have done to improve their methods of creating change. Their methods may have taken a long time but they were able to build themselves up to be economically stable all on their own. I do not think there is another way in which they may be more empowered than by creating this community and this business themselves. When they needed to learn more, they reached out and used the resources available to them, which is ultimately very

beneficial.
The women of ASOMOBI have started sharing their journey through this documentary and through conferences around the world, I think it would be beneficial to speak more about the social injustices women continue to face when seeking economic opportunities. Many of the women were socially stigmatized for attempting to do anything other than take care of their home, however they saw that they needed to do something and did it for their families and their communities. I think that there needs to be more information about women empowerment just like this one that is shared more widely among all communities and identities.
Throughout this course, we have learned a lot about what people, no matter what their intersecting identity is, can do to impact the world in a positive way. The story of ASOMOBI shows how women can come together and make an impact in their communities and around the world. While they were doing something to ensure their families had economic opportunity, they gave back to their community and built a sustainable corporation that produced jobs and encourages women to have self-autonomy and worth through work and community building.