Tired old narratives such as care is not ‘real’ work need to be challenged. Sanika Sawant, Alex Bush, Anam Parvez Butt, Blandina Bobson, Silvia Galandini and Regis Mtutu on new Oxfam research from Kenya, Zimbabwe and the UK that tested new narratives with exciting potential to build government and public support for care, carers and informal workers.
As Asia changes and ages, domestic workers are in demand – but who will stand up for their rights?
Paid carers are more important than ever to Asian societies and economies. Yet, say Saleha Shah and Raina Bhattacharya, upcoming Oxfam research will highlight how these millions of workers remain underpaid, exploited and invisible. Building decent care systems will mean paying and treating these workers fairly, and also creating new public care infrastructure that can meet everyone’s needs.
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.
How ‘cash-for-work’ projects help vulnerable groups in Lebanon – and what they need to do better
Offering temporary jobs on donor-funded and public projects can boost community incomes, as well as women’s economic empowerment and local quality of life. However, our new paper also finds such schemes need to do more to improve long-term economic inclusion and social impact, say Léa Moubayed-Haidar and Christina Elias of the EU-funded Economic Development Policy Unit (EDPU), hosted at Oxfam Lebanon
Paying the living wage isn’t just good for the world – it’s also good for business. Here’s how to do it…
Everyone benefits from decent wages. Monica Romis of the Oxfam Business Advisory Service sets out five steps firms can take to pay them – and get on the right side of the battle against global poverty
A holistic approach to women’s economic empowerment
What does economic empowerment look like and how can it be achieved? Vincent Trousseau looks at examples from Oxfam’s programmes in Zambia and Morocco and introduces our new conceptual framework. What is women’s economic empowerment? Oxfam believes that effective economic empowerment for women (WEE) occurs when women enjoy their rights to control and benefit from resources, assets, income and their …
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 …
Oxfam Future Skills women host live radio show for IWD 2017
Rachel Roger, director of Manchester based online radio station Reform Radio, introduces an upcoming radio show in collaboration with an Oxfam UK poverty programme, and reflects on how she has found inspiration in their resilience. Listen to the show: Reform Radio is an online community station that provides an exciting and alternative method of working with young Mancunian’s looking …
Future skills: Helping women get along in the job market
Caroline Tosal-Suprun reflects on a recent workshop, co-developed by Oxfam and the Co-operative Bank, as part of our work to improve women’s access to work in the UK. uture Skills is an Oxfam project tackling poverty in the UK. It places women from marginalised communities as volunteers in one of our high street shops for six months. Through the programme, …