Women & Economy

Q&A: “The Battle Continues”

By Joan Erakit
The Programme of Action adopted at the landmark 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) included chapters that defined concrete actions covering some 44 dimensions of population and development, including the need to provide for women and girls during times of conflict, the urgency of investments in young people’s capabilities, and the importance of women’s political participation and representation.

Boosting Incomes and Empowering Rural Women in Cuba

By Patricia Grogg
Leonor Pedroso’s sewing machine has dressed children in the Cuban town of Florida for 30 years. But it was only a few months ago that the seamstress was able to become formally self-employed.

The Changing Face of Caribbean Migration

By Jewel Fraser
Ruth Osman is attractive and well-groomed in tailored slacks and a patterned blouse, topped by a soft jacket worn open. Her demeanour and polished accent belie the stereotypical view that most Caribbean nationals have of Guyanese migrants.

Where Women Don’t Work

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Saleema Bibi graduated from medical school 15 years ago – but to this day, the 40-year-old resident of Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, has never been able to practice as a professional.

Urban Population to Reach 3.9 Billion by Year End

By Gloria Schiavi
People living in cities already outnumber those in rural areas and the trend does not appear to be reversing, according to UN-Habitat, the Nairobi-based agency for human settlements, which has warned that planning is crucial to achieve sustainable urban growth.

On Sri Lanka’s Tea Estates, Maternal Health Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

By Kanya D'Almeida
A mud path winds its up way uphill, offering views on either side of row after row of dense bushes and eventually giving way to a cluster of humble homes, surrounded by ragged, playful children.

Mongolia’s Poorest Turn Garbage into Gold

By Jonathan Rozen
Ulziikhutag Jigjid, 49, is a member of a 10-person group in the Khan-Uul district on the outskirts of Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, which is producing brooms, chairs, containers, and other handmade products from discarded soda and juice containers.

Kenya’s Ogiek Women Conquer Cultural Barriers to Support their Families

By Robert Kibet
Just two years ago, Mary Ondolo, a 50-year-old mother of nine from Kenya’s marginalised, hunter-gatherer community, the Ogiek, used to live in a grass thatched, mud house. She'd been living there for decades. 

Can ‘Womenomics’ Stem the Feminisation of Poverty in Japan?

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
Fifty-four-year-old Marlyn Maeda, an unmarried freelance writer living in Tokyo who never held a permanent job, is now watching her dream of aging independently go up in smoke.

Uganda’s Youth Discover the Beauty in Farming

By Amy Fallon
Before she entered the Miss Uganda beauty contest, 24-year-old Fiona Nassaka was a farmer.

Human Rights and Gender Equality Vague in Post-2015 Agenda

By Ida Karlsson
With the United Nations’ post-2015 development agenda currently under discussion, civil society actors in Europe are calling for a firmer stance on human rights and gender equality, including control of assets by women.

Women – the Pillar of the Social Struggle in Chile’s Patagonia Region

By Marianela Jarroud
In few places in Chile are women the pillars of community, grassroots rural and environmental movements as they are in the southern wilderness region of Patagonia. It is a social role that history forced them to assume in this remote part of the country.

With Sewing and Sowing, Self-reliance Blooms in Central Asia

By UN Women
In the small rural village of Svetlaya Polyana, not far from the city of Karakol in Issyk Kul Province, north-eastern Kyrgyzstan, there is no sewage system and 70 percent of households lack access to hot water.

Nepal Landslide Leaves Women and Children Vulnerable

By Naresh Newar
Living in a makeshift tarpaulin shelter, which barely protects her family from the torrential rainfall or scorching heat of this remote village in southern Nepal, 36-year-old Kamala Pari is under immense stress, worrying about her financial security and children’s safety.

Bangladeshi Girls Seek Equal Opportunity

By Naimul Haq
Until five years ago, Shima Aktar, a student in Gajaghanta village in the Rangpur district of Bangladesh, about 370 km northwest of the capital Dhaka, was leading a normal life. But when her father decided that it was time for her to conform to purdah, a religious practice of female seclusion, things changed.

Caregiving Exacerbates the Burden for Women in Cuba

By Patricia Grogg
Hortensia Ramírez feels like she needs more hands to care for her 78-year-old mother, who suffers from arteriosclerosis, do the housework, and make homemade baked goods which she sells to support her family.

Gender Equality Gains Traction with Pacific Island Leaders

By Catherine Wilson
A pledge by political leaders two years ago to accelerate efforts toward closing the gender gap in the Pacific Islands has been boosted with the announcement that three women will take the helm of the regional intergovernmental organisation, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, headquartered in Suva, Fiji.

OPINION: For Nigerian Girls, Education Is the Key That Opens Doors to Progress

By Nnenna Agba
I grew up in Nigeria, in a culture where bearing a son validates a woman and her family, and a male innately holds the superior position in society over a female. At 11 years of age, I escorted my mother to deliver her fifth baby girl, my youngest sister, and watched our mom die in the hands of an unfit doctor.

Cash Transfers Drive Human Development in Brazil

By Fabíola Ortiz
Every day, Celina Maria de Souza rises before dawn, and after taking four of her children to the nearby school she climbs down the 180 steps that separate her home on a steep hill from the flat part of this Brazilian city, to go to her job as a domestic. In the evening she makes the long trek back up.

Outlawing Polygamy to Combat Gender Inequalities, Domestic Violence in Papua New Guinea

By Catherine Wilson
New legislation recently passed in the southwest Pacific Island state of Papua New Guinea (PNG) outlawing polygamy has been welcomed by experts in the country as an initial step forward in the battle against high rates of domestic violence, gender inequality and the spread of AIDS.

India’s Great Invisible Workforce

By Neeta Lal
According to census data released this month, a whopping 160 million women in India, 88 percent of who are of working age (15 to 59 years), are confined to their homes performing ‘household duties’ rather than gainfully employed in the formal job sector.
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