In Gaza and Lebanon, thousands of women are now first responders when it comes to feeding, caring and comforting, all while dealing with their own trauma from deaths, injury, starvation and displacement. Yet too often the way humanitarian agencies operate actually adds to their workload, says Hadeel Rizq-Qazzaz.
Why are care workers missing from the conversation about the gig economy in the UK?
Debates about workers on digital platforms too often focus on male-dominated sectors such as deliveries and ride-hailing. In a blog for the International Day Of Care, Veronica Deutsch explains how care workers, overwhelmingly women, are now central to the precarious UK gig economy – and sets out what campaigners, researchers, employers and policy makers can do to support them.
Is your business reinforcing gender injustice? Here are four ways to spot the risks and challenge discrimination
Firms are under growing pressure to identify and respond to adverse impacts and show how they apply a “gender lens” to the way they do business. Jiselle Steele of the Oxfam Business Advisory Service explores what that means — and how to reduce negative impacts in supply chains on women and marginalised groups. And you can get expert guidance live at our webinar on 17 September.
Data and debt: The twin obstacles to justice on care and domestic work
The recent historic International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) conference in Rome highlighted two big challenges standing in the way of the UN’s ambitions to address unpaid care and domestic work so that it is valued and shared equitably. Chama Mwandalesa – who joined the annual gathering in Rome – explains.
Beyond GDP
What are the limitations of using GDP as a measure, and what alternatives could we use instead? Ridhi Kalaria shares her experience during the Women’s Budget Group’s Beyond GDP workshop in June and why we must look beyond GDP.
Why feminists are rejecting the cult of growth
When oil spills and the production of weapons are good for growth and GDP, isn’t it time we changed our economic goals and how we measure them? Rachel Noble and Anam Parvez Butt report back from an impassioned session at the International Association for Feminist Economics conference, where scholars and activists called for nations to stop pushing growth at all …
How can African women and girls make their voices heard in climate action?
Women across the continent, especially in rural and coastal areas, are paying a heavy price for the climate emergency, so why are they so often missing from key areas of influence such as climate research and national environment ministries? Ilse Kithembe sets out five ways to tackle Africa’s environmental gender gap, as Oxfam in Senegal launches a new paper on boosting the role of communities in climate action.
Let’s put a new deal for care at the heart of Lebanon’s recovery plan
Women are paying the price as the nation’s deep, economic crisis drives a surge in care work, says Marwan Issa
The men are gone – but the patriarchy remains: the struggles of women left behind in Syria’s ‘no-man land’
Years of conflict have led to thousands of men dying or being pushed away. Now, says Dania Kareh, the women who remain face a huge challenge as stubborn social, economic and educational barriers frustrate their efforts to build decent lives for their families.
How the pregnancy penalty supercharges global inequality
In a blog for International Women’s Day, new parent Anthony Kamande reflects on the heavy cost his partner and family have paid for the simple act of having a baby. The world, and especially its poorer countries, needs a pregnancy rights revolution, he says, and international funders such as the IMF must play their part.