Women & Economy

The Arab Youth Bulge and the Parliamentarians

By IPS World Desk
More than ever before, the Arab region now registers an unprecedented youth population growth while facing huge challenges such as extremely high unemployment rates --more than half of all regional jobless population--, and inadequate education and health provision, in particular among young women.

When Women Have Land Rights, the Tide Begins to Turn

By Manipadma Jena
In Meghalaya, India’s northeastern biodiversity hotspot, all three major tribes are matrilineal. Children take the mother’s family name, while daughters inherit the family lands.

What Future for 700 Million Arab and Asian Youth?

By Baher Kamal
With a combined population of around 400 million inhabitants, 22 Arab countries are home to nearly 300 million youth. Meantime, there are 400 million youth living in Asia and the Pacific. In both regions, these 700 million young people aged 15–24 years account for up to 60 per cent of world’s youth population. What future for them?.

Solar Tents Improve Nutrition in Highlands Villages in Bolivia

By Franz Chávez
In this remote highlands valley community in central Bolivia, a group of Quechua indigenous women have learned how to combat the intense frosts and the shortage of water in solar tents, and to use what they grow to prepare nutritious new meals for their families.

Women Small-Holder Farmers, Key Drivers for Sustainable Production

By Sally Nyakanyanga
The shouts can be heard from a distance as one approaches Domboshawa, 30 kilometres northeast of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

An Untold Economic Success Story in Syria

By Pierre Pierre Krähenbühl
Hidden almost literally under the rubble of the civil war in Syria is an economic success story that is rarely told. Hanan Odah is a thirty-year-old Palestine refugee living in Jaramana refugee camp in Damascus. She supports her multiply displaced family of three from a thriving micro-enterprise venture. Her husband was killed in the conflict, but she refused to submit to despair and dependency on her parents.

The Very Survival of Africa’s Indigenous Peoples ‘Seriously Threatened’

By Baher Kamal
The cultures and very survival of indigenous peoples in Africa are seriously threatened. They are ignored, neglected and fall victims of land grabbing and land dispossession caused by extractive industries, agribusiness and other forms of business operations.

Long Way to Go for Indigenous Rights Protection

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Despite progress, many gaps remain in international indigenous rights protection, said representatives during an annual UN meeting.

Indigenous Peoples – Best Allies or Worst Enemies?

By Baher Kamal
It all happened on the very same day—4 April. That day, indigenous peoples were simultaneously characterised as fundamental allies in the world’s war on hunger and poverty, while being declared as collective victims of a “tsunami” of imprisonments in Australia. See what happened.

How Feminists Have Catapulted Women to National Leadership Roles

By Torild Skard
Hillary Clinton did not make it to the top, but Theresa May, the British prime minister, and Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, did. Since Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first female prime minister, in Sri Lanka in 1960, one-hundred women have been heads of state or government around the world.

Sri Lanka’s Small Tea Farmers Turn Sustainable Land Managers

By Stella Paul
As the mercury rises higher, Kamakandalagi Leelavathi delves deeper into the lush green mass of the tea bushes. The past few afternoons there have been thunderstorms. So the 55-year-old tea picker in Uda Houpe tea garden of Sri Lanka’s Hatton region is rushing to complete her day’s task before the rain comes: harvesting 22 kgs of tea leaves.

New Approach Needed for Peace in Afghanistan

By Jessica Neuwirth
When the United States went to war in Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban’s despicable treatment of women was cited by First Lady Laura Bush as one of the main reasons for going to war. Yet, since that regime fell 15 years ago, the Afghan government has neither included women in the peacebuilding process, nor has it stemmed the endemic rate of violence against them.

Discrimination Compounds Global Inequality: UN Report

By Lyndal Rowlands
Despite 25 years of impressive global development, many people are not benefiting from progress due to persistent discrimination, according to a UN report released Tuesday.

Women’s Pay Gap “Biggest Robbery in History”: UN Women

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
A new UN initiative launched on Monday night calls the women's pay gap, which sees women paid 23 percent less than men globally: "the biggest robbery in history."

Women’s Progress Uneven, Facing Backlash – UN Rights Chief

By IPS World Desk
“The women’s movement has brought about tremendous change but we must also recognise that progress has been slow and extremely uneven and that it also brought its own challenges,” warned the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030

By Zebib Kavuma
This year as the world commemorates International Women’s Day it is a time for all of us to celebrate and reflect on the progress made on Women’s rights globally. But more importantly, a day to call for an end to gender inequality in all its forms especially in the work spaces. Appropriately themed “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030” the commemoration comes against a backdrop of a world that is undergoing major changes with significant implications for women.

Time to Champion Women’s Empowerment: Implementation of SDGs in Bangladesh

By Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad
The year 2015 was highly significant in relation to global convergence on ways forward towards achieving sustainable development at local, national, regional, and global levels.

Why a Feminist Foreign Policy Is Needed More than Ever

By Margot Wallström
Lately, the world has tended to present itself in increasingly darker shades. In many places, democracy is questioned, women’s rights are threatened, and the multilateral system that has taken decades to build is undermined.

Barefoot Solar Warriors Take On Gender Injustice and Climate Change

By Stella Paul
On a summer morning in 2008, Magan Kawar decided to leave her village for a job. The very next day, her parents-in-law excommunicated her.

16-Hour Days for Zimbabwe’s Women

By Sally Nyakanyanga
As the cock crows, Tambudzai Zimbudzana, 32, is suddenly awakened from sleep. She quickly folds her blankets and strides outside her three-room, sheet iron-roofed house in rural Masvingo.

Be Bold for Change–Empower Women, Empower Humanity

By Robert Watkins
The world of work is changing for women across the globe and Bangladesh is no exception. Factors such as globalization, advancement in technology, and the digital revolution have ushered in new ways for women to enter into work. The theme for the International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2017, focuses on “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030” under which gender parity in the workforce is the critical prerequisite for inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
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