Kenya’s affluent classes panic when domestic staff are away… so why can’t they acknowledge workers’ value with a decent wage?

Blandina BobsonGender, Living wage, Women's Economic Empowerment

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.

Informal work traps millions of women in poverty: let’s back the labour movements that can fight for decent jobs

Leena PatelGender, Private sector, Women's Economic Empowerment

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

A man’s path to gender equality?

Neha KagalGender, Women's Economic Empowerment

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 …