Firms that boost support for workers with unpaid care and domestic work responsibilities are waking up to the fact that this not only enhances women’s rights and wellbeing, but also productivity. In the first in a blog series for the International Day of Care, Fatema Tuz Johoora, Achmad Fuad Fathurrahman and Leah Payud share insights from pilots in Indonesia and the Philippines of an Oxfam care toolkit for business launching soon.
Kenya’s affluent classes panic when domestic staff are away… so why can’t they acknowledge workers’ value with a decent wage?
During big holidays such as Christmas, social media buzzes with people struggling to cope without domestic workers. Clearly, the workers make a huge hidden contribution to households and the economy. Yet illegal exploitation of these vital women workers continues – and it’s urgent our government steps in to stop it, says Blandina Bobson.
An ‘Uber’ app for cooks and cleaners? How tech is starting to change the lives of informal domestic workers
On International Domestic Workers’ day, Fatema Tuz Johoora and Tarek Aziz explain how gig economy apps can make Bangladesh’s invisible army of domestic workers visible, as well as offering new opportunities to help them claim their rights to better pay and conditions.
Governments know shockingly little about the millions of informal and unpaid women workers – and, in a world that undervalues their labour, that’s no accident
Millions of unpaid care and informal workers too often live in poverty, face long hours with harsh conditions, and see their efforts dismissed as “not real work”. On International Workers’ Day, Alex Bush calls for those in power to find out much more about these women as a crucial first step to valuing their work.
Think informal women workers don’t pay tax? Actually they pay more tax than Elon Musk…
The reality is that hundreds of millions of informal and unpaid women workers are paying way more than their fair share – while the super-rich avoid taxes with impunity. Alex Bush, Clare Coffey and Saleha Shah debunk some myths about tax and women’s informal work.
As austerity devastates women’s lives, we want to highlight the economic face of gender-based violence
As governments across the globe slash social protection and public services, that will hurt millions of women and girls, who will be pushed into poverty, exploitation, ill health and insecurity. That’s why, says Dana Abed, during this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, Oxfam will be highlighting the devastating impact of austerity on women, girls and non-binary people
Informal work traps millions of women in poverty: let’s back the labour movements that can fight for decent jobs
Low pay, long hours, no sick or maternity pay, unsafe workplaces… That’s the reality for hundreds of millions of women, mostly in the global south – which is why informal workers are going to be at the heart of Oxfam’s drive to value women’s work, says Leena Patel in the third blog in our series around International Women’s Day
Is your business serious about gender justice? Here’s what you need to do
In the second blog in our series to mark International Women’s Day, Jiselle Steele of the Oxfam Business Advisory Service shares five tips for firms that want to make a real difference when it comes to gender inequality and gender justice in supply chains
Claiming rights for women in Pakistan’s informal economy
Urban growth in Pakistan brings new challenges for women and new gender inequalities. Hadia Majid and Ammar A. Malik identify key factors which could help women workers in the informal economy to advocate for better recognition, greater access to services and a larger share in economic growth. Pakistan is the sixth most populated country in the world and it is …
Nothing for us without us: Participatory processes and the New Urban Agenda
Half the world’s population live in cities, and urban informal workers make important economic, social, and environmental contributions to city life. Rhonda Douglas from WIEGO argues that the New Urban Agenda must include all urban stakeholders, including the working poor, to ensure it doesn’t leave anyone behind. More than 50% of the non-agricultural work force in most developing countries is …