Women & Economy

Banks Embed Climate Risk, Gender and Sustainability in Finance Products

By Robert Kibet
As climate shocks intensify across East Africa, from failed rains in Kenya’s arid north to devastating floods in Tanzania’s coastal belt, the region’s banks are emerging as unlikely but powerful players in the resilience race.

Zanzibar’s Blue Economy Offers Hope Amid Rising Seas and Gender Inequity

By Kizito Makoye
At dawn on the white-sand shores of Jambiani, 45-year-old Saada Juma braces herself against the pull of the tide, wrangling ropes laced with seaweed. Her hands, hardened by decades of labor, move instinctively as she secures her aquatic crop.

Women From Landlocked Developing Countries Set Sights on Open Horizons

By Joyce Chimbi
“Progress towards gender equality and equity remains uneven and far too slow. One in four women in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) live in extreme poverty, and this is nearly 75 million women,” said Rabab Fatima, Secretary-General of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries or LLDC3 ongoing in Awaza, Turkmenistan.

Protect Women’s Rights, Especially in a Time of Equality Backlash, Say Activists

By Naureen Hossain
Discriminatory laws and the absence of legal protections impact more than 2.5 billion women and girls worldwide in various ways. Legal reform is paramount to securing gender equality, and the world cannot afford to roll back on decades of progress in women’s rights.

Intersectional Feminist Leadership Needed to Realise Global Goals

By Jesselina Rana
In its 80-year history the UN has never once been led by a woman. As the international community convenes for the 2025 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) to review progress on gender equality and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this remains a fundamental hypocrisy at the heart of global governance. How can an institution that has systematically excluded women from its highest office credibly champion gender justice worldwide?

Science Is Useless if No One Understands It

By Busani Bafana
Despite delivering life-saving medicines, more nutritious crops, and transformative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), science remains widely misunderstood, polarizing, and underappreciated. Much of this, experts say, comes down to one persistent issue: poor communication.

Rising Temperatures, Rising Inequalities: How a New Insurance Protects India’s Poorest Women

By Manipadma Jena
As Deviben Dhaundhaliya, 45, a streetside seller of artificial jewelry, waits for her husband Devabhai to arrive and help her shift their iron-frame mobile ‘shop’ to the Bhadra Fort open-air marketplace in Ahmedabad city, she tells of how “as heat increased, my wares started melting under the direct exposure to the sun, or they got discolored.”

UNOC3: A Cry for Global Action to Save Small-Scale Fisheries

By Kizito Makoye
Just before dawn, the worn wooden dhows begin gliding toward the shore at Magogoni fish market in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam. Their tattered sails flutter against the orange sky. Exhausted fishers step out onto the muddy sand, hauling frayed nets and plastic crates, their sun-creased faces tight with fatigue.

Solar Energy Brings Water to Iconic Salvadoran Village of El Mozote

By Edgardo Ayala
The worst massacre of civilians in Latin America occurred in the Salvadoran village of El Mozote, where environmental projects are beginning to emerge, slowly fostering awareness about protecting the natural resources of this deeply symbolic site, embedded in the country's historical memory.

Lawmakers Work to Build Women’s Representation in Politics and the Workplace

By Cecilia Russell
Jelena Pekić, MP of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (House of People) and Deputy Speaker of the Canton Sarajevo Assembly, Lana Prlić, MP of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (House of Representatives) and Marina Riđić, Assistant Representative, UNFPA Bosnia and Herzegovina, spoke to IPS ahead of the Study Tour on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

How Mangroves Save Lives, Livelihoods of Bangladesh Coastal Communities

By Rafiqul Islam Montu
Golenur Begum has faced 12 cyclones in her life. As a child, she witnessed her father’s house destroyed, and as an adult, she watched her home smashed. Saltwater brought by the tidal surges that accompanied the cyclones wrecked their farms and livelihoods.  And with climate change, these impacts are becoming more intense and frequent.

In Zimbabwe, Farmers Are Leading Scientific Research on Conservation Agriculture

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
Migren Matanga grew up shying away from small and traditional grains in Rushinga, in northern Zimbabwe. The 58-year-old mother of four from Toruzumba village relied on maize and cotton, one of the major cash crops in the area at the time.

Tanzania’s Women Miners Digging for Equality in a Male-Dominated Industry

By Kizito Makoye
Under the scorching Tanzanian sun, Neema Mushi wipes sweat from her dust-covered face and swings her pickaxe into the earth. The impact sends dust swirling into the air, coating her tattered clothes. She barely notices. For the past eight years, this has been her life—digging, sifting, sieving, and hoping to strike gold in the male-dominated pits of Geita. It is a grueling task riddled with obstacles.

Andean Women Farmers in Peru Face Climate Crisis with Green Practices

By Mariela Jara
"Up here in the highlands, there’s a lot of frost, and everything seems bleak. But I’m so happy since I got my greenhouse and started growing vegetables in a healthy way. I feel like we’re overcoming the challenges of the weather," Anacleta Mamani, a Quechua farmer from the community of Poques (about an hour’s drive from Cusco, the former imperial capital of Peru), told IPS.

‘With Science, We Can Feed the World of 9.7 Billion by 2050′

By Busani Bafana
Animal scientist Lindiwe Majele Sibanda became what her grandmother earnestly prayed for when she was growing up on a farm in southern Zimbabwe.

CGIAR Gender Impact Platform Needs a ‘Bold Approach’ in Agriculture Research

By Naureen Hossain
Women farmers face structural issues that prevent them from realizing their full potential, from societal perceptions that dictate their limitations to poor land. However, CGIAR's Gender Impact Platform Director, Nicoline de Haan, argues that leaning into a "victim" narrative does not serve them, especially when women are demonstrably more involved in agriculture.

Solar-Powered Spinning Machines Help Indian Women Save Time and Earn More

By Sanskrita Bharadwaj
As light enters through the small window of a modestly constructed tin-roofed house, Philim Makri sits on a chair deftly spinning cocoons of eri silk with the help of a solar-powered spinning machine in Warmawsaw village in Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya in northeast India.

Award Winning Women Goat Herders in Chile Confront Climate Change

By Orlando Milesi
Women goat herders in the municipality of Ovalle, in northern Chile, are confronting climate change by defending their heritage through improvements in the quality and variety of their products, which has led some to win international awards for their cheeses.

International Women’s Day, 2025
In Zanzibar, Women Turn the Tide with Sponge Farming

By Kizito Makoye
In the early morning, as the tide pulls away, Zulfa Abdallah ties her scarf tightly around her head. She adjusts her goggles, places a snorkel across her forehead, and wades into the chest-deep waters off Jambiani village in Zanzibar. The Indian Ocean is her livelihood now, its waves offering a lifeline to women like her who confront challenges of poverty and climate change.

International Women’s Day 2025: For All Women and Girls


 
In 2025, our world remains deeply unequal. Women earn, on average, 20% less than men globally.

In Zimbabwe, Women Are Leading the Battle Against Climate Change

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
When Susan Chinyengetere started to focus on farming in her home village in south-eastern Zimbabwe, she wondered if she could earn a living and raise her children. With climate catastrophes ravaging the country, her hesitation on rain-fed agriculture worsened. But two years later, the 32-year-old mother of two from Mafaure village in Masvingo, about 295 km from the capital Harare, is now a champion in farming.
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