Ripple Effects: women in Nepal and Bangladesh forge their own paths in water governance

Suman Gupta Gender, Water, Women's Economic Empowerment

In honour of International Women’s Day (March 8th) and World Water Day (March 22nd), this episode discusses how water systems and water governance are deeply intertwined with women’s lives in riverine communities in Bangladesh and Nepal. We learn about women’s rarely discussed roles in fisheries and how River Camps in Bangladesh offer supportive environments for women to meet with leaders …

‘What will the others think?’ Reflections on social norms and unpaid care work in Tunisia

Soufia Galand Gender, Women's Economic Empowerment

“Shhhh, the Others are listening! We can’t do that, the Others will see us!” I come from a migrant family, and we are what we could call a ‘modern’ one. However, this has never prevented my mom from being obsessed by the ‘Others’, how we should be like ‘Them’ and do as ‘They’ would expect us to do. I remember asking her, how …

Making care count: Valuing work and wellbeing over wealth

Julie Thekkudan Gender, Inequality, Women's Economic Empowerment

We are heading into increasingly stormy times. Times when caring for each other will become more critical and challenging. By 2025, economies will be in crisis response mode, coping with 2.4 billion people living in areas without enough water. By 2030, an additional 100 million older people and a further 100 million children between 6-14 years of age will need …

Why businesses are addressing unpaid care work

Sarah Hall Gender, Inequality, Participation and Leadership, Private sector, Women's Economic Empowerment

Sarah Hall, Oxfam’s Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-Care) Programme Manager, explores what businesses stand to gain from easing the burden of unpaid care and domestic work. A productive, healthy workforce is the backbone of any successful business. A ground-breaking new report from Oxfam and Unilever shows how businesses are identifying and addressing the challenges that limit workers’ full participation. A hidden, and often underestimated barrier, is the unequal responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work that frustrates the progression and productivity of women employees. For many businesses globally, the first …

Feminist solutions to man-made economic inequality

Anam Parvez Economics, Education, Gender, Health, In the news, Inequality, Tax, Women's Economic Empowerment

Francesca Rhodes, Gender Policy Advisor, Man-Kwun Chan, Influencing Advisor, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care, and Anam Parvez Butt, Gender Justice Research Lead at Oxfam GB outline some of the key ways public spending and taxation could reduce gender inequality. In the words of feminist activist, Paula Varela: ‘Women… have the majority of the precarious jobs, and we perform the overwhelming …

Making markets work in fragile settings

Shekhar Anand Agriculture, Livelihoods, Private sector, Women's Economic Empowerment, Youth

Oxfam OPT’s Economic Justice team shares four lessons learned from their market system development (MSD) work with small-scale farmers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territory affects 4.8 million Palestinians, nearly a quarter of whom live below the poverty line. Among other threats, at least 1.9 million Palestinians experience – or are at risk of …

Investing in women’s entrepreneurship is not enough

Caroline Ashley Gender, Private sector, Women's Economic Empowerment

Ahead of the Gender Smart Investing Summit, Caroline Ashley, Miranda Morgan, Thalia Kidder and Fabian Llinares set out Oxfam’s top tips for gender-smart investing. So you want to invest in women and girls. You want to improve lives and tackle deep-seated problems. But will you be practical and ambitious, tokenistic or transformational? We think some of what we have learnt from years …

Cocoa and the global goals: accelerating women’s empowerment

Ulrike Joras Food & livelihoods, General, Private sector, Women's Economic Empowerment

How can business build gender equality into supply chains? Oxfam’s Ulrike Joras and Gaël Lescornec of the World Cocoa Foundation, share lessons from the cocoa industry and introduce a new shared initiative. From South Africa to Somalia, we have both spent over a decade working on issues related to poverty and inequality. While this work has often generated more questions …

Care work matters – public services and infrastructure can make a difference

Thalia Kidder Gender, Women's Economic Empowerment

Thalia Kidder and Claudia Canepa explain why unpaid care work matters in tackling poverty and gender inequality, and discuss what can be done to recognise, reduce and redistribute the work load. Sustainable Development Goal 5.4 mandates that governments ‘recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion …