Women & Economy

Nigerian Women Challenge ‘Colonialist’ Patriarchy

By Promise Eze
Bukes Saliu wakes up very early every workday to beat the gruesome Lagos traffic to head to a job quite unusual for a woman to engage in Nigeria. She is a forklift operator in one of the busy depots in the coastal city, a task traditionally meant for men in the West African country.

Bolivian Women Fight Prejudice to Be Accepted as Mechanics

By Franz Chávez
In Bolivia, more and more women have gone from being homemakers or street vendors to joining the noisy world of engines, their hands now covered in grease after learning that special touch to make a car work. But they frequently have to put up with machismo or sexism, injustice and mistrust of their skills with tools.

Growing Feminization of Migration in Cuba Poses New Challenges

By Luis Brizuela
Emigrating from Cuba was an agonizing decision for Ana Iraida. She left behind family and friends; in her backpack she carried many hopes, but also the fear of facing dangers on the journey to the United States.

Women Study More in Brazil, but Make Little Progress in the Exact Sciences

By Mario Osava
"I thought of studying journalism, because of the example of Gloria Maria," a famous black TV journalist who died of cancer in February 2023, said mathematician Luciana Elias, while discussing the scarce female participation in exact sciences research in Brazil.

Social Activists Demand Real Equality for Chilean Women

By Orlando Milesi
Women social activists recognize that gender equality is gaining ground in Chile, but maintain that there is still a long way to go to turn into reality the promises to "level the playing field" between women and men, while they highlight the importance of addressing the issue of care work.

Taking Stock of Two Decades of Trailblazing Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa

By Joyce Chimbi
It promised to be the most defining, groundbreaking, and transformative protocol on African women’s rights. Specific in its approach, broad in its reach, and unique in its all-encompassing nature, covering issues such as HIV/Aids, widow inheritance and property disinheritance in a most unprecedented manner.

Women Recyclers in Bolivia Build Hope, Demand Recognition

By Franz Chávez
They haul many kilos of recyclable materials on their backs but receive little in return. These Bolivian women who help clean up the environment from dawn to dusk are fighting for recognition of their work and social and labor rights.

Wood Smoke Continues to Make Women Sick in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
Using a few dry sticks as fuel, Margarita Ramos of El Salvador lit the fire in her wood stove and set about frying two fish, occasionally fanning the flame, aware that the smoke she inhaled could affect her health.

Women in Peru’s Poor Urban Areas Combat the Crisis at the Cost of Their Wellbeing

By Mariela Jara
At five in the morning, when fog covers the streets and the cold pinches hard, Mercedes Marcahuachi is already on her feet ready to go to work in Pachacútec, the most populated area of the municipality of Ventanilla, in the province of Callao, known for being home to Peru's largest seaport.

Water Harvesting Boosts Agriculture in Brazil’s Semiarid Northeast

By Mario Osava
"The rainwater tanks are the best invention in the world for us," said Maria de Lourdes Feitosa, 46, who recalls the deadly droughts of the past in Brazil's semiarid Northeast region.

Women’s Savings in Zimbabwe Struggle Under Weight of Unstable Currency

By Ignatius Banda
For years, self-employed and unemployed women in Zimbabwe formed neighbourhood "clubs" where they pooled money together for everything from buying bulk groceries to be shared at the end of the year to meeting funeral expenses.

Biodigesters Boost Family Farming in Brazil

By Mario Osava
"The biodigester really gives a huge boost to those who have the courage to do things," said Maria das Dores Alves da Silva, based on her own experience as a 63-year-old small farmer.

Healthy Homes – A Right of Rural Families in Peru

By Mariela Jara
Adopting a “healthy housing” approach is improving the living conditions of rural Peruvian women like Martina Santa Cruz, a 34-year-old farmer who lives with her husband and two children in the village of Sacllo, 2,959 meters above sea level in the Andes highlands municipality of Calca.

Peru’s Agro-Export Boom Has not Boosted Human Development

By Mariela Jara
Peru’s agro-export industry is growing steadily and reached record levels in 2022. But this has not had a favorable impact on human development in this South American country, where high levels of inequality, poverty, childhood anemia and malnutrition persist, as well as complaints about the poor quality of employment in the sector.

Women’s Cooperatives Work to Sustain the Social Fabric in Argentina

By Daniel Gutman
Nearby is an agroecological garden and a plant nursery, further on there are pens for raising pigs and chickens, and close by, in an old one-story house with a tiled roof, twelve women sew pants and blouses. All of this is happening in a portion of a public park near Buenos Aires, where popular cooperatives are fighting the impact of Argentina's long-drawn-out socioeconomic crisis.

Star Wars Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy — Symbolises A Litany of Firsts For Women

By Zofeen Ebrahim
The announcement by Lucas film’s president, Kathleen Kennedy, about the upcoming three new live-action Star Wars films was enough for lawyer Maliha Zia to get euphoric.

Andean Indigenous Women’s Knowledge Combats Food Insecurity in Peru

By Mariela Jara
Paulina Locumbe, a 42-year-old peasant farmer who lives in ​​the Andes highlands of southern Peru, learned as a child to harvest and dry crops, one of the ancestral practices with which she combats the food insecurity that affects millions in this Andean country.

International Women’s Day, 2023
Empower Her

By Yasmine Sherif
On International Women’s Day, let us remind ourselves of the power of education. We have all benefited from an education that less than a century ago was not a given for a girl and which still remains a distant utopia for millions of young girls.

International Women’s Day, 2023


 

From the earliest days of computing to the present age of virtual reality and artificial intelligence… …women have made untold contributions to the digital world in which we increasingly live.

International Women’s Day, 2023
Five Sharp Questions on Female Empowerment

By Katja Iversen
International Women's Day is right around the corner and it presents an obvious opportunity to dig into what female and empowerment means for different people.

Digital Gender Gap in Latin America Reflects Discrimination Against Women

By Mariela Jara
The digital gender gap is multifactorial in Latin America and as long as countries fail to address discrimination against women, inequality will be reflected in the digital space, excluding them from access to opportunities and enjoyment of their rights.
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