Invisible No Longer
A professor of women’s studies/is speaking to high school students/about chocolate and the country/where much of it is produced,/Côte d’Ivoire.//
1
　　Good morning.// Today, I would like to discuss with you/something related to this (showing chocolate).//
　　Chocolate is one of our favorite foods,/right?// Japan has some of the biggest chocolate companies in the world,/and you each eat around two kilos of chocolate a year.//
　　When we talk about sweets,/we think about taste, price, and nutritional value.// But today/I’d like you to take a moment to ask:/“Where does chocolate actually come from?// Do chocolate farmers make decent wages?// Are their work conditions safe?”//
　　Chocolate is made from cacao beans.// Almost 40 percent of the world’s cacao beans/are produced in Côte d’Ivoire,/which is, in fact,/the world’s largest producer.// Now,/look at the map on the wall.// Can you find Côte d’Ivoire?//
　　The work on cacao farms is dangerous.// Women do most of the work,/yet they make very little money.// One woman farmer says,/“Women do everything,/right until the cacao dries.// But the men take it,/sell it,/and never take us women into account.”//
　　Today,/I’d like to talk to you/about these women farmers.// Some people call them/the “invisible women”/at the heart of the chocolate industry.//