Across the world, women make a significant contribution to global supply chains, in spite of complex hurdles that limit their inclusion and their leadership. How can businesses make it easier for women to fulfil their potential? Claudia Canepa shares some ideas from Oxfam’s private sector partnerships. The UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (HLP) recently identified seven key …
A no ‘tick-box’ approach to gender and resilience
A key question for Oxfam and the development sector is how to address the different challenges faced by people living in poverty in a holistic fashion. However, our partners are often already successfully addressing multiple issues at once as Caroline Ashley saw in Bangladesh. I’ve seen gender treated as a ‘tick-box’ exercise – yes women participated. The same goes for …
A man’s path to gender equality?
What happens to the gender dynamics in a community when women become socially and economically empowered? Neha Kagal conducted research among Dalit communities in India which found pathways to gender equality are far from straight forward. The feminist trade-union of women wastepickers in India, has 8,000 members all of whom belong to the ‘lower’ Dalit caste. Established in the early …
A human economy for women and men
How can we build an economy that works for everyone? Fenella Porter explains why in order to conceptualise a truly ‘human’ economy we need to look at inequalities of gender as much as inequalities of wealth. If the world turned upside down and we replaced all the women with men, and all the men with women, we still wouldn’t have …
A holistic approach to women’s economic empowerment
What does economic empowerment look like and how can it be achieved? Vincent Trousseau looks at examples from Oxfam’s programmes in Zambia and Morocco and introduces our new conceptual framework. What is women’s economic empowerment? Oxfam believes that effective economic empowerment for women (WEE) occurs when women enjoy their rights to control and benefit from resources, assets, income and their …
Taking women’s empowerment beyond the paid economy
How can development programmes support women’s economic empowerment while taking into account the burden of unpaid care work? Mar Maestre shares her research findings as part of the discussions taking place this week at the WEE Global Learning Forum 2017. The advancement of women’s rights and economic empowerment in market systems contributes to the economic well-being of families, communities, and …
Why men matter in closing the caregiving divide
Jane Kato-Wallace, Senior Program Officer at Promundo-US, highlights the implications for organisations addressing the caregiving divide. The unpaid care work divide represents an enduring aspect of gender inequality. But what do we mean by “unpaid care work”? According to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, it consists of: “Domestic work and direct care of persons carried …
Winners of the WEE leadership awards 2017 announced!
Today, Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International Executive Director, has announced the four winners of the WEE Leadership Awards 2017 organised by Oxfam’s Knowledge Hub on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Agriculture! In her message to the winners and nominees, Winnie Byanyiama, Oxfam International’s Executive Director, underlines the importance of their contributions to Oxfam’s work and beyond. We received nominations for 43 inspiring …
Three ways to change the economy to make it work for women
Women’s economic empowerment is an issue that is gaining an increased amount of attention, yet it still seems to be an increasingly distant goal. Here Francesca Rhodes looks at three key changes needed to address a broken system. Around the world, women are disadvantaged compared to men across virtually every economic measure and are more likely to live in poverty. …
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, …