Deerfield Company Pledges Improved Conditions for Women Cocoa Farmers

Deerfield-based Mondelez International, Inc., the world's largest chocolate maker, has announced a new commitment to improving conditions for women cocoa farmers.

The company, one of the world's largest snack companies with global net revenues of $35 billion last year, vows to extend its reporting on gender rights in cocoa farming and be an advocate for industry-wide action, according to a press release.

Mondelez, a spin-off from Kraft Foods Inc., is the third company after Nestle SA and Mars Inc. to commit to addressing gender inequality since the humanitarian advocacy group Oxfam rated 10 food companies on their policies, reported Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Together, these three companies control 42 percent of the world chocolate market, according to Bloomberg.

"Gender equality benefits everyone and is essential if cocoa communities are to thrive," stated Christine McGrath, Vice President of External Affairs and Cocoa Life at Mondelez International, in a press release.

"Our experience shows an increased involvement of women in the supply base leads to improved financial management by farmers, better education for youth, more sustainable, thriving communities and, over time, reduced child labor."