The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the global policy making body concerning women’s rights and gender equality issues. Francesca Rhodes and Vincent Trousseau explore how and why it represents a unique opportunity to influence governments to take bold action. The Commission and what it means to Oxfam Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) is an integral part of Oxfam’s …
St. Valentine’s Day: Celebrating Healthy Relationships and Challenging Violence
This Saint Valentine’s Day, Bethan Cansfield and Lourdes Montero look at what it means to have a healthy relationship and how unhealthy ones may be formed. oday, many couples, in many countries will be celebrating Saint Valentine’s Day – or ‘El día de los enamorados’ (‘Day of Lovers’) in some Latin American countries. Whilst a chance to celebrate the spectrum …
Future skills: Helping women get along in the job market
Caroline Tosal-Suprun reflects on a recent workshop, co-developed by Oxfam and the Co-operative Bank, as part of our work to improve women’s access to work in the UK. uture Skills is an Oxfam project tackling poverty in the UK. It places women from marginalised communities as volunteers in one of our high street shops for six months. Through the programme, …
A manifesto for a new era – or seven reasons why the Women’s March was different
Nikki van der Gaag reflects on her experience of the Women’s March on London; why Oxfam supported it, why it was different from past events and where we can go from here. t is not often that an ordinary citizen is part of something that they know will go down in history. But the Women’s March last Saturday was one …
Priorities for women’s economic empowerment in 2017
Claudia Canepa and Caroline Green reflect back on our Her Series blog, which highlighted opinions, research and learning on women’s economic empowerment. Here they outline the key lessons from the series. his year has marked an important time for the political agenda on women’s economic empowerment, with the launch of a special UN High Level Panel back in January 2016. The …
This is not bad luck it is sexist violence
Damaris Ruiz, Coordinator of Women’s Rights for Latin America and the Caribbean, looks at the social acceptance of violence against women and what we can do to end it. “What bad luck I had with that man”. That’s what a teenage friend told me 25 years ago and I still think about this phrase with the same frustration. My friend …
The right to defend human rights in an unequal world: The case of Mexico
Defenders of human rights often put themselves at personal risk to carry out their work. This blog examines the vulnerabilities human rights and land rights activists face, especially female activists and defenders of land and women’s rights. t the beginning of October we read about a company lawyer in El financiero (ES), a national Mexican newspaper, who was referring to …
Make education safe for all: Let girls learn!
Oxfam’s Gender Justice Programme Coordinator in Malawi, Anthony Malunga, reflects on Malawi’s education system and on what can be done to protect girls in the classroom and support their aspirations. lobally, education remains the key investment area needed by all countries to ensure they have current and future capacity for development. In Malawi, girls’ education is affected by multiple, socio-cultural …
31 women activists murdered in 2015: You can help stop the violence
International Women Human Rights Defenders Day was November 29th, you can support women on the front line defending rights. erta Cáceres was murdered in March 2016. Berta was peacefully opposing a dam project being built in her community. For this she paid with her life. Around the world, women human rights defenders*, like Berta, are threatened, attacked and murdered for …
The ladies’ room
Kerry Akers talks about the careful considerations and interdisciplinary collaboration needed to ensure that protection work is not based on harmful assumptions. umanitarian camps are dark at night. The curfew is sunset and the camp is heaving. Spilling out of their crowded tents onto the streets, people sit around dim cooking stoves talking and waving the mosquitoes away. The streets …