“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 …
Why businesses are addressing unpaid care work
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 …
Care work matters – public services and infrastructure can make a difference
Thalia Kidder and Claudia Canepa explain why unpaid care work matters in tackling poverty and gender inequality, and discuss what can be done to recognise, reduce and redistribute the work load. Sustainable Development Goal 5.4 mandates that governments ‘recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion …
How improving access to water can help reduce care work
Changes to infrastructure and equipment can make a real difference to time spent on care work . Lucia Rost and the WE-Care team share research from the Philippines, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Everyone needs care, but in many countries, it is mostly women who are responsible for providing it. Heavy care work responsibilities can restrict women’s opportunities for education, employment, political …
Critical junctures and the redistribution of care work
Women’s heavy and unequal contributions to care work are a challenge to their participation in social, economic and political life and overall wellbeing. How can project interventions change this? Senior researcher Martin Walsh reflects on the findings of two in-depth studies in Uganda and Ethiopia. One of the aims of Oxfam’s WE-Care (Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care) initiative is the …
Women’s work? Challenging gender roles in the Philippines
‘We forget our tiredness when the kiss is there.’ Nikki van der Gaag reports from the Philippines on a partnership that is changing ideas about men’s and women’s roles in the home. There is a bright red advertisement on the road from Tacloban airport to the town. It has a photograph of a woman with pale skin and red lipstick …
How businesses can tackle the social norms that limit women
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 …
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 …
Showing that we care: Challenging assumptions on unpaid care
Nikki van der Gaag, Director of Gender Justice and Women’s Rights at Oxfam, introduces us to the issue of unpaid care work and the impact that this has on women’s lives and women’s economic empowerment. here isn’t a woman in the world who doesn’t struggle to balance unpaid care and household work with her other responsibilities, including paid work. Which …