Working with companies on women’s economic empowerment in value chains

Ulrike Joras Agriculture, Food & livelihoods, Women's Economic Empowerment

Salimata Kone (pictured) is a cocoa farmer and lives with her husband and children near Divo, a city in southern Côte d’Ivoire. She took part in a project to improve her family income and financial resilience through crop diversification, producing other crops alongside her cocoa harvest. Through the project, Salimata not only managed to increase her family’s income by harvesting more than 450kg of …

Podcast – Hindou’s Journey: Climate, COVID and Care

Power in the Pandemic Podcast Climate Change, Indigenous People

“You can’t speak about us, without us” –  Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim This is the first episode of a new mini-series, in collaboration with the Climate, COVID, and Care: Feminist Journeys zine which launched on the 24th of August, 2020. This publication is a collection of journeys, stories, and ideas from five feminist activists working at the intersection of gender and climate justice. …

Between a feminist and operational approach to Afghan women in the police

Dr. Jorrit Kamminga Gender, Participation and Leadership

Political uncertainty has reigned in Afghanistan following the US-Taliban deal signed in February 2020 and the dispute around who the legitimate president was following the elections in September last year. On 9 March two presidents were sworn in on the same day. The dispute was solved in May but political divisions continue to hamper the functioning of the Afghan government. …

‘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 …

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 …

St. Valentine’s Day: Celebrating Healthy Relationships and Challenging Violence

Bethan Cansfield Gender, Violence Against Women and Girls

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 …

A manifesto for a new era – or seven reasons why the Women’s March was different

Nikki van der Gaag Gender

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 …

This is not bad luck it is sexist violence

Damaris Ruiz Gender, Violence Against Women and Girls

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 …

Make education safe for all: Let girls learn!

Anthony Malunga Gender, Violence Against Women and Girls

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 …

Women leading in the peace

Caroline Sweetman Fragile contexts, Gender, Gender & Development Journal, Governance

According to World Bank estimates of September 2016, two billion people live in countries where development outcomes are affected by fragility, conflict, and violence. By 2030, the share of global poor living in fragile and conflict-affected situations is projected to reach 46 per cent. Caroline Sweetman, Editor of Gender & Development, introduces us to the theme of gender in fragile …