Now I tell young mothers, tales of how far we have come.”įairtrade has played a huge part in this change. Even male workers get a 15-day paternity leave. “I took a break for 3 months before resuming to work.
When Anne got her last child in 2008, she says she saw her efforts to advocate for better conditions for expectant and nursing mothers truly begin to bear fruit. “They would show it at the gate, allowing them an extra hour in addition to the lunch break to breastfeed their children.” This led to the introduction of a “green card” which nursing mothers kept for 9 months. Having gone through 2 pregnancies at the farm with no policies to cushion her, Anne was vocal about issues affecting nursing female workers. In the same year, Anne was elected to the union as a worker representative. There was a strong mobilization that led to the unionization of workers, giving room for uptake of worker friendly policies. We had to come back to work as quickly as we could, because staying home meant no money to take care of our families,” says Anne. We did not have maternity leave and were not paid for the time off to conceive and recover. “ Back then (late 90’s and early 2000’s), women returned to work in a week or less after delivery. She starkly recalls the difficult circumstances expectant mothers faced at the time. The mother of 6 has welcomed the arrival of three (3) of her children while working at the farm.
She has been a general worker, a greenhouse recorder, a childcare worker at the farm’s creche facility and is today charge de hygiene in certain areas of the sprawling flower farm based in Naivasha.Īfter all this time with Shalimar, she carries with her a deep history of the farm, but most importantly, one of female flower farm workers and the path taken to get to where they are today. In her 27 years, she has transformed as much as her employer did at the start. She watched the farm evolve from growing carnations to vegetables before firmly setting up its’ rose flower arm in 1998. Hers is a story of a woman whose difficulties as a working mother compelled her to stand up for her rights and advocate for a better future for women.Ĥ7-year-old Anne Abuke vividly remembers this as the day she joined Shalimar, fresh from high school, eager to start life on her own.Īt the time, the flower industry was still fairly young, with much fewer producers compared to today. This International Women’s Day 2021, we speak to Anne Abuke from Shalimar Flowers Kenya.