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 leadership in action
Tamsin Smith interviews Damaris Ruiz, Yohanka Valdes, and Maritza Gallardo Lopez, from Oxfam’s Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) Regional Women’s Rights and Gender Justice group. They share five ways they are bringing feminist learning into the centre of our organization. Formed five years ago, the LAC Regional Women’s Rights and Gender Justice group comprises Oxfam staff and members of feminist …
Can Twitter help drive policy change?
Oxfam Intermón has supported allies using digital actions to put issues on the political agenda. Rodrigo Barahona, Virginia Vaquera and Patricia Corcuera share seven critical success factors. In recent years Spain has seen the devastating impact of economic crisis, austerity measures, and a rolling back of human rights – including the controversial Citizens Security Law, which has curbed freedom of …
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Book banter – The Rise of the Meritocracy
In our latest Book Banter episode, we review The Rise of the Meritocracy, by British sociologist and politician Michael Young. This satirical essay was first published in 1958, projecting into the year 2034. Oxfam’s Angela Picciariello and Susanna Griffiths discuss what it can tell us about inequality in the present day.
Why care is a political act
Facilitators Shawna Wakefield and Heather Cole outline why self and collective care is fundamental to social justice, and how individuals and organizations can lead by example. There are many ways to understand what care means. Here, we define it as looking after the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental wellbeing, safety and dignity of ourselves and others. Too often, the focus …
How to build community trust to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The world’s second-biggest Ebola outbreak is still raging in DRC, with more than 1,400 cases and 900 deaths. Research has shown that distrust is one of the biggest obstacles in this Ebola fight. Oxfam’s Andrea Vera Nava outlines three ways to work with local communities to build their trust and increase the success of an Ebola response in a conflict …
How can the UK government justify arms sales that fuel the war in Yemen?
Laura Gyte describes why Oxfam intervened in a court case brought against the UK government over arms sales. UPDATE: on 20 June the Court of Appeal ruled that UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are unlawful. In April, the Court of Appeal heard a claim brought by Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) on whether the UK government’s decision to …
5 lessons learned on how to conduct a Human Rights Impact Assessment
Oxfam recently conducted a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) with Finland’s biggest supermarket. Tim Gore shares more. Human rights abuses are widespread in global food supply chains – from forced labour on fishing vessels in southeast Asia, to poverty wages on Indian tea estates, and exposure to dangerous chemicals on banana plantations in central America. Supermarkets are the powerful last …
Are Communal Tiger Worm Toilets a sustainable option for camps?
We tested Communal Tiger Worm Toilets in challenging conditions in Myanmar, and evaluated their sustainability. The ‘Tiger Team’ talk us through their findings. As increasing numbers of people are living in camp settings for longer, we need more sustainable alternatives to commonly used pit latrines. Tiger Worm Toilets (TWTs) are a novel sanitary solution that contain composting worms to digest …