Celebrating International Women’s Day

This international women’s day, we’re celebrating women who are making a difference—for themselves, their communities, and for our products.

“In ethical buying, we’re always looking for ways to promote equitable treatment of gender and supporting suppliers who go above and beyond for women,” says Heather Deeth, Manager of the Lush Buying team in North America. “When women earn money for the household, we see that money invested into the family: children in school, improved nutrition, access to healthcare—everyone benefits.”

Meet re-wrap

Reducing waste while empowering women: re-wrap does it all! This female-owned non-profit crafts sustainable, reusable items like some of our knot-wraps and our Fighting Animal Testing Bag that eliminate the need for single-use packaging.

When a massive earthquake shook the small community of Kutch in India, it left nearly a million of its people without a home. Janjri Trivedi wanted to build a sustainable organization to empower local women with sewing skills, while earning a fair income so they can feed their families and send their children to school. Trivedi started re-wrap in 2002, and today it empowers nearly 80 underprivileged women to lead more fulfilling lives with independence and dignity. Read more about re-wrap.

Meet Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative

The women of Bongo Soe, in Bolgatanga, Ghana, are traditionally subsistence farmers, growing crops to sustain their families and saving food for the dry season. But scarcity of work and food in the dry season often forced them to leave their community to seek employment elsewhere.

Welcome change arrived in the form of Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative, which provides women with a reliable source of income all year long. This local employment means instead of leaving their families behind for a season to find work, women can stay within their community and earn a fair income that allows them to offer material and emotional support to their families, as well as being able to afford school fees and child health insurance. And as the women continue to flourish, so does the co-op having grown from just 40 women since it began to more than 500 today.

We’re proud to use the co-op’s creamy shea butter in many our handmade cosmetics, and love that the funds from our purchases have helped the women to fund community projects like a library—the first rural library in the Upper East Region District. Read more about Ojoba Women’s Shea Cooperative.

Meet Argane Aouzac

Argan oil, the silky ingredient that leaves skin and hair glowing, has become increasingly popular in cosmetics in the last decade. The argan oil you’ll find in products like our Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner and Jason And The Argan Oil Shampoo Bar comes from Argane Aouzac, a fair trade supplier that works with more than 350 women across several villages.

Each week, the women deliver their bags of argan kernels for processing, and earnings are handed directly into the hands of the women—not her husband. This is exceptional as the society is traditionally patriarchal. By working with Argane Aouzac, the women have achieved autonomy and influence as co-providers to their families. Read more about Argane Aouzac.