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Thursday, May 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Women & Economy
Gender Indicators for Global Climate Funds Still an Afterthought
Of the millions of dollars spent on climate change projects in developing countries, little has been allocated in a way that will benefit women. Yet, in Africa, it is women who will be most affected by climate change.Navigating Challenges, Brazil Steps Up AIDS Response
Long heralded as a model for the global response to HIV/AIDS, Brazil is intensifying its actions, at home and abroad, in the face of potential setbacks including an arising need for new treatment regimens, the resultant increase in drug prices and the debate over intellectual property rights.BOLIVIA: Women Fight Superstition, Machismo in Mining Cooperatives
Hundreds of women belonging to mining cooperatives in Bolivia are striving for the right to mine seams of tin and silver in the country's western highlands, where an age old superstition maintains that the presence of women "scares away" the minerals.
MALAWI: Tax on the Poor Is to Compensate for Tariff Revenue Loss
The decision by the Malawian government to introduce value-added tax (VAT) of up to 16.5 percent on products such as bread, meat, milk and dairy products is being blamed for losses incurred by small-scale businesses. The move comes in response to a loss of revenue due to regional trade commitments.
EGYPT: Solar Energy Projects Picking up Again After Uprising
On a blazingly hot summer’s day in Cairo, it’s 36 degrees Celsius in the shade. Air-conditioners and fans whirr across the city, burdening the national electricity grid. Last summer, the populous city experienced frequent water and power cuts, causing a furore. Consumption had grown by 2,600 megawatts, an increase of 13,5 percent from 2009.KENYA: Empowering Women through Micro-Finance Credit
Without a college education and against the backdrop of limited job opportunities, it was not easy for Salome Wairimu to find employment.
KENYA: Uneducated Women Struggle to Access Credit Fund
As an estimated 3.7 million dollars continues to sit idle in the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) kitty, the very women the fund was meant to benefit have complained about the difficult requirements that need to be met in order to access the money.CUBA: Economic Reforms Hitting Women Hard
Women in Cuba are gaining ground in public life and earn the same wages as men. But the gender gap in the workplace is still a challenge for women, who are finding the odds more heavily stacked against them as the government of Raúl Castro adopts economic reforms aimed at "updating" the country's socialist system.Women’s Groups Unite Ahead of Busan Aid Forum
Twenty women from four continents consider the words discussion leader Anne Schoenstein, of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), has written on a flip chart. She strikes out in blue ink a previous sentence. She begins writing a new one - a demand aimed at aid donors - dictated by Nurgul Djanaeva.
PAKISTAN: Lonely for Women Who Succeed
As you climb the ladder at the workplace, from the mid-management level to the senior leadership positions, you find fewer and fewer women. Little wonder then that Naz Khan - chief finance officer at Engro Fertilizers, a subsidiary of one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates, Engro Corporation - says it gets lonely at the top.DEVELOPMENT: Microfinance Craze Conceals Multiple Problems
The microfinance industry is expanding at breakneck pace, with more banks and private equity firms now entering the fray. Yet there is growing unease about the naive assumptions, and evangelical predictions, of its advocates.G8: ‘Arab Spring Could Lead to African Drought’
Stressing that there is only so much money to go around, development experts worry that the aid package the Group of Eight (G8) has announced for North Africa may mean fewer funds for the rest of the continent.ZIMBABWE: Cross-Border Traders Don’t Trust Banks With Their Money
A newly available electronic banking service has received a lukewarm reception from cross-border traders in Zimbabwe’s second largest city Bulawayo, despite it alleviating the need to move around with large sums of cash.
NIGERIA: Women Giving Each Other a Hand Up
In an open space near her home in Makoko, a crowded suburb of the sprawling city of Lagos, Latifat Agboola sits in the midst of bags of charcoal, attending to her customers. Some of them call her "the charcoal woman with the dirty job, but she sees herself as a businesswoman on the rise.
ZAMBIA: Making the Most of Limited Capital
Proponents of microfinance often portray it as the empowering extension of credit to vulnerable but diligently self-employed poor people - often women - who support each other to improve their livelihoods as well as repay their loans. The image is true, to some extent, but in many parts of Africa, microfinance institutions have somewhat sharper teeth.
DEVELOPMENT: Women Leading Bangladesh Away from the LDC Tag
Women entrepreneurs and workers will soon help Bangladesh shake off the Least Developed Country (LDC) label, business leaders say.
DEVELOPMENT: Chinese Step In, Efficiently
For Jany Chen from Shanghai, concern often-raised in Europe and North America about the Chinese invasion of Africa is a lot of wasteful talk that deserves to be flushed down the toilet. Efficiently.
DEVELOPMENT: Market Forces Rise Above Declarations
Upstairs in halls where the conference of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is being held, all the right things were being said about the misery of poverty and the virtue of opportunity and development. Several floors below, what are called ‘market forces’ were at work.
Indigenous Craftswomen Take on Mexican Fashion World
Reina Pérez, an Otomi indigenous craftswoman in the central Mexican state of Querétaro, skilfully embroiders "grecas" or traditional design motifs in threads of many colours, on fabrics that will be used to make dresses, skirts and blouses.
INDIA: Smuggling Everything From Cough Syrup to Sex
Sakina Bibi is a sex worker in the red light area of Kalabagan in Murshidabad, a border district in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal where everything from cattle to electronic goods, from rice and sugar to cough syrup, and women, are being smuggled.Can Microcredit Reclaim Its Visionary Mission?
As controversy mounts over the efficacy of microfinance as a global poverty-alleviation effort, the 15th Global Microcredit Summit, scheduled to kick off on Nov. 14 in Valladolid, Spain, will be forced to answer critical questions about poverty, resources and tactics.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Around the world, women make great contributions to different economies. From the field of business, to carrying the bulk of unpaid care, women are essential to economic growth. However, due to gender inequality, women face economic discrimination. Taking many forms, including disproportionate wages, greater exposure to vulnerable employment, and reduced economic opportunity, this inequality continues to curtail economic development. Yet women continue to work past these obstacles and reduce this disparity, furthering economic empowerment. These stories help to identify women’s economic struggles, and those that are working towards empowerment.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
