Women & Economy

Obama Says Gender Pay Gap Is No Myth, It’s Math

By Farangis Abdurazokzoda
Since his re-election in 2012, President Barack Obama has stepped up his rhetoric around gender equality issues in the United States, but he has yet to get a partisan U.S. Congress to go along with a series of legislative proposals he put forward.

Women Seek Stand-Alone Goal for Gender in Post-2015 Agenda

By Thalif Deen
The 45-member U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded its annual 10-day session Saturday with several key pronouncements, including on reproductive health, women's rights, sexual violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and the role of women in implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

OP-ED: While Women Progress, Men Fall Behind

By Joseph Chamie
-- International Women’s Day and the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) are overlooking a critical trend: while girls and women are making notable gains, boys and men are falling behind.

Ethiopia’s Female Fashion Designers Embrace Tradition to Boost Sales

By James Jeffrey
Female fashion designers are drawing on Ethiopia’s rich cultural heritage and adding a modern twist to find success at home and increasingly impress abroad. 

Women Turn Potatoes into Gold in Zimbabwe’s Cities

By Jeffrey Moyo
Shyline Chipfika, 26, is one of thousands of Zimbabwean women in urban centres who have struck gold by growing potatoes. And a lot of their success has to do with an import ban.

Pakistani Women Hit Hurdles in Medical Profession

By Beena Sarwar
On one of her many visits to Pakistan recently, Sarah Peck, director of the US-Pakistan Women’s Council, spent some time talking to young women medical students in Pakistan. She was struck by their passion and commitment -- and by the hurdles they face.

Sun Shines on Forest Women

By Stella Paul
Chintapakka Jambulamma, 34, looks admiringly at a solar dryer. It’s the prized possession of the Advitalli Tribal Women’s Co-operative Society- a collective of women entrepreneurs that she leads.

Tahrir Square Finds a GrEEK Neighbour

By Rachel Williamson
The group of buildings near Tahrir Square could be modern campus-style office space anywhere. It’s hard to believe that just outside the heavy steel gates lies downtown Cairo, the noisy, polluted and now troubled heart of Egypt.

Women Still Walk Two Steps Behind in Arab World

By Thalif Deen
In much of the Arab world, women's participation in the labour force is the lowest in the world, according to the United Nations, while women in politics are a rare breed both in the Middle East and North Africa.

Untimely Rains Hit Cuban Tobacco Harvest

By Ivet González
Near the close of the harvest , local people in the Cuban municipality of San Juan y Martínez, which boasts the finest tobacco plantations in the world, are seeing their hopes of a plentiful season dashed by unexpected winter rains.

Labour Anger Simmers in Cambodia

By Michelle Tolson
An uneasy calm prevails in Cambodia after the government crackdown on protests by garment workers in January. With public gatherings banned and charges framed against 23 union leaders and activists, labour discontent may not be spilling on to the streets, but it is simmering.

OP-ED: The Care Imperative

By John Hendra and Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona
As the debate about a future global development agenda to succeed the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 gathers pace, there is broad agreement that gender equality and women’s empowerment are crucial components.

Ghana’s Small Women’s Savings Groups Have Big Impact

By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Dunwaa Soayare, 45, a smallholder farmer, widow and mother of five had the sort of economic profile that meant she was denied access to credit from Ghana’s mainstream banking institutions.

Poverty Rises Amidst Gold

By Catherine Wilson
Natural reserves such as gold, copper, nickel, gas and timber are being extracted in the western Pacific island states of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to feed the soaring economies of East and South East Asia. But despite these Pacific nations recording economic growth rates of 6-11 percent over the past seven years, opportunities for human development have not been grasped.

Growing Inequality Mars 20 Years of Women’s Progress

By Jonathan Rozen
As the world moves closer to the 2015 end mark of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new U.N. report illuminates how far global society has come, but also how far it still must travel to achieve its objectives.

OP-ED: We Need Everyone to Build a More Sustainable World

By Tarja Halonen
Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, an annual event that deals with a subject that is very close to my heart.  The summit gathered together amazing people: Nobel Prize winners, thought leaders, heads of state, corporate innovators, and academicians to deal with the paramount challenges of the 21st Century all focused on three pressing dimensions of sustainability:  food, water and energy.

Poverty Wages Unraveling Cambodia’s Garment Industry

By Minh Le
Cambodia’s garment industry is regularly plagued with strikes and protests. But when armed security forces opened fire on striking workers in the capital city of Phnom Penh on Jan. 3, killing five and injuring dozens, it suddenly became clear that this was not just another protest.

A Tale of Two Worlds

By Joan Erakit
As violence rips through South Sudan and ongoing conflict plagues the Central African Republic and Syria, developing countries stand at a difficult crossroads – struggling to grow economically and politically, yet fielding deep inequalities within their own borders.

Impoverished Cambodians For Sale

By Michelle Tolson
Many Cambodian women arrive in South Korea or China for marriage, only to find themselves being chosen as mistresses, say labour rights activists. While young Cambodian men, who travel to Thailand to work on fishing boats, often fall prey to drug abuse.

Questions Linger over Haiti Housing Projects

By Correspondents
Four years after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, questions continue to haunt the four main post-disaster housing projects built by the Haitian government.

Eucalyptus Trees Make Way For Food Crops

By Ngala Killian Chimtom
A project to reclaim agricultural land lost to eucalyptus plantations is bearing fruit in Cameroon.
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