Women & Economy

Few Meaningful Changes in Wake of Dhaka Factory Collapse

By Katelyn Fossett
Worker advocacy groups here are calling on some of the most high-profile U.S.-based clothing companies to make drastic reforms to their international labour practices in the wake of the factory collapse that killed more than 420 workers in Dhaka last week.

From Rags to Penury

By Ranjit Devraj
India’s planners worry about ‘jobless growth’, but perhaps nothing illustrates this phenomenon better than a policy of handing over the collection and disposal of the capital’s refuse to large private corporations, leaving close to 50,000 ragpickers unemployed.

Giving Women in Zimbabwe’s Informal Sector Rights

By Jeffrey Moyo
Mollin Siyanda, 46, a single mother of three from Harare’s low-income suburb of Hatcliffe, is scared of being arrested by the council police as she sells fruit, vegetables and second-hand clothes on the pavement of the city centre without a permit.

Women Forge a Space for Themselves in Latin American Labour Movement

By Estrella Gutiérrez
Misogyny is the word on the lips of women trade unionists in Latin America when asked what they have had to fight against to win spaces in the leadership bodies of labour unions in the region.

Over 100 Million Women Lead Migrant Workers Worldwide

By Thalif Deen
The face of migration is changing dramatically as women and girls now represent about half of the over 214 million migrants worldwide.

Israeli Cloud Hovers Over Green Energy

By Mel Frykberg
A quiet diplomatic war is being waged by several European governments against the Israeli authorities, specifically the Israeli Civil Administration which controls the Israeli occupied West Bank.

Somali Women Cashing in on Business

By Abdurrahman Warsameh
In the Hamarweyne market, Mogadishu's largest, 24-year-old Maryama Yunis is finding success with her tiny cosmetic store. The young Somali entrepreneur has been in business for two years, selling everything from soaps and shampoos to lipsticks and eyeliners, and now she's turning a decent profit.

Women Miners Blast Through Barriers in Chile

By Marianela Jarroud
Women are playing an increasingly important role in Chile’s mining industry, where little more than a decade ago they were not even allowed in the mines because of prejudice and superstitions.

Q&A: Obesity and Hunger Are Two Sides of the Same Problem

By Joan Erakit
Over 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2010. In fact, since 1980, the worldwide prevalence of obesity has doubled, according to the British medical journal the Lancet.

Water Shortage Hits Pacific Women

By Catherine Wilson
The Solomon Islands, a developing island nation in the south-west Pacific Islands, has one of the highest urbanisation rates in the region, and the basic service infrastructure is struggling to cater for the influx of people from the provinces to the capital, Honiara. Thirty-five percent of the city’s population, who live in informal settlements, are facing the health consequences of a dire shortage of clean water and sanitation.

Getting Past Aid to Develop

By A. D. McKenzie
With the level of Western aid to the world’s poorest countries declining amid the global financial crisis, economists are calling for “innovative” means of development that range from proper taxation of multinationals to laws that ensure gender equality.

Women Take the Stage Against Taliban

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
The Taliban may have placed a ban on theatre, but women in Pakistan’s northern provinces won’t allow the threat of the militants’ reprisals to keep them off the stage.

Women Make Flowers Pay

By Catherine Wilson
In Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, women are taking the lead in developing a burgeoning floriculture industry. At the same time, their enterprise is contributing to community resilience as rapid urbanisation exceeds employment opportunities and challenges the economic wellbeing of many urban families.

Women Long to Work in Peace

By K. S. Harikrishnan
Shaken by the brutal gang rape and murder of a young woman in the national capital New Delhi last December, the female workforce in India is calling for more concrete measures for the protection of female employees from both physical and non-physical attacks.

BOOKS: The Legacy of Nafis Sadik, Champion of Choice

By Joan Erakit
Once dubbed "the most powerful woman in the world" by the London Times, Nafis Sadik learned at an early age that persistence leads to opportunities for change - and backlash from the Pope.

Portuguese Women Stand Up for the Family in Times of Crisis

By Mario Queiroz
The huge impact of the economic crisis on male employment in Portugal has led to a sharp increase in the proportion of women who have become the main breadwinners in their families. But that has not translated into progress towards equality.

World Bank 2030 Draft Strategy Criticised for Omitting Inequality

By Carey L. Biron
A leaked copy of a major World Bank strategy paper, outlining a new institutional approach to tackling poverty through 2030, has worried some humanitarian groups and anti-poverty advocates, who say the bank has failed to suggest mechanisms that would allow it to adequately track or deal with growing levels of income inequality around the world.

In Middle East, Women’s Labour Half of Global Levels

By Katelyn Fossett
As countries in the Middle East and North Africa adjust to profound political changes and economic difficulties, development experts on the region have increasingly turned their attention to the social and economic potential of incorporating more female workers into the labour market.

U.S. Urged to Reject New World Bank Focus on Large Infrastructure

By Carey L. Biron
A group of environmentalists, gender activists and international finance watchdogs are calling on the U.S. government to support calls for the World Bank to step back from a new programmatic focus on large-scale infrastructure, which critics say does little to help alleviate poverty.

Equal Chances for Women Critical in ‘Healthy, Productive Society’

By Joan Erakit
In an effort to promote gender equality in workplaces and communities, business leaders, politicians and supporters came together during last week's fifth annual Women's Empowerment Principles Event to explore ways to ensure women are supported in their careers and life choices.

Food Policies Failing the World’s Hungry

By Joe Hitchon
The world’s food security remains “vulnerable”, new data suggests, with some 870 million people experiencing sustained hunger and two billion suffering from micronutrient deficiencies.
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