The invisible lives of women tea plantation workers prompted the creation of this open access archive. Below you will find resources about these women across the globe and across time, including archival photographs, videos, and research articles. This archive explores the effect of globalized trade spanning centuries and community-specific socioeconomic conditions on their livelihoods.
Background image: Nicolas Lannuzel, Cameron Highlands, Boh tea plantation, ca. 2012, Photography, Flickr.
Cover image:
Harrison Forman, Sri Lanka, close-up of woman picking tea leaves, ca. 1960s, Photography, 35mm, American Geographical Society Library, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries.
The History of Tea
An Introduction
A warm mug of tea sits in front of me, soothingly warm with an earthy and bright aroma wafting up. The cultivation, labor, and trade it took to get this tea to my cup is unwieldy. The history of tea and all its varieties permeates all continents and eras. Today, you can find black, green, white, yellow, oolong, and pu’erh tea all over the world. Tea is said to be the most consumed beverage in the world only second to water, and its prevalence only confounds its complex labor market and cultural significance.
Looking closer, the laborers involved in growing and harvesting tea are more often women than men. More than 50% of the tea plantation labor force is women, largely due to the ancient presumption that women’s nimble fingers and soft hands are better suited for plucking tea leaves. This gendered labor often stays invisible, leaving women working in unsafe and underpaid conditions. This project serves as an Open Access Archive of the lives of women tea plantation workers. Narrowing in on the gendered labor of tea production will reduce the invisibility of this class of workers within an open access platform while providing a comprehensive collection of both primary and secondary sources available to anyone interested.
