Women & Economy

International Women’s Day, 2021
Women in Leadership Positions: An Economist’s View of International Women’s Day

By Raghbendra Jha
The COVID-19 pandemic (henceforth pandemic) has women particularly hard. In almost all countries, women constitute the bulk of the labour force in the service sector, which was hardest hit by the pandemic. Furthermore, they also represent a disproportionate share of the work force in particularly vulnerable sectors such as health care. Women also have disproportionate if not sole responsibility for home work including taking care of children.

International Women’s Day, 2021
To Aspire and Achieve- Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century

By Radhika Coomaraswamy
As a member of the second wave of the feminist movement who were also the first generation of women to receive positions of leadership, I recall the prejudices and biases that framed our experience. Women rarely were put in charge of “hard” core issues, only what were termed “soft” ones in keeping with their role as nurturer and carer. When they were present in the Board room, they were often silent. When they spoke, they were inevitably spoken over. It was the exceptional woman who could navigate the corridors of corporate culture, male expectations, and a workplace that was unsympathetic to her dual burden.

International Women’s Day, 2021
To Lead is to Serve — A Pacific Woman’s Perspective

By Leituala Kuiniselani Toelupe Tago-Elisara
An often quoted indigenous reference in the Samoan language is, O le ala i le pule o le tautua, literally translated, “the pathway to leadership is through service” because to be able to lead is to be willing to serve.

Valérie Allain – Women in Science (2021)

"Working in Science, like any other career, is fit for women too… Just go for it, nobody can stop you", Valérie Allain, Senior Fisheries Scientist at the Pacific Community (SPC).

Why Transforming Our Food Systems Is a Feminist Issue

By Jemimah Njuki
In countries where women are most marginalized, discriminated under the law and where gendered norms prevent women from owning property and resources, people are also the hungriest. This is because gender equality and food systems are intertwined.

The Plight of Domestic Workers in Brazil

By Waldeli Melleiro and Christoph Heuser
The inclusivity of Brazilian society is put to the test as the coronavirus pandemic highlights a labour sector ripe with historical and structural inequality: domestic work.

Gendering Agriculture so Women Take the Lead in Feeding Africa

By Rhoda Tumusiime and Steven Cole
Africa’s hopes of feeding a population projected to double by 2050 amidst a worsening climate crisis rest on huge investments in agriculture, including creating the conditions so that women can empower themselves and lead efforts to transform the continent’s farming landscape.

It was Meant to Be a Ground-breaking Year for Gender Equality but COVID-19 Widened Inequalities

By Neena Bhandari
Sixteen-year-old Suhana Khan had just completed her grade 10 exams in March, when India imposed a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Since then, she has been spending her mornings and evenings doing household chores, from cooking and cleaning to fetching drinking water from the tube well. 

Indigenous Farmers Harvest Water with Small Dams in Peru’s Andes Highlands

By Mariela Jara
A communally built small dam at almost 3,500 meters above sea level supplies water to small-scale farmer Cristina Azpur and her two young daughters in Peru's Andes highlands, where they face water shortages exacerbated by climate change.

Senegalese Women’s Participation in Energy Sector equals Empowerment

By Neena Bhandari
Aïssata Ba, 45-year-old widow and mother of seven children, has been practising market gardening for the past 30 years in Lompoul Sur Mer village in the Niayes area of north-west Senegal. For many women in the village, endowed with fertile soil and favourable climate, it is the primary source of income throughout the year.

Women Leadership Is Key to Successful Post-COVID-19 Era, Says Cherie Blair

By Cecilia Russell
The impact of COVID-19 lockdowns falls heavily on the shoulders of women even in the global north. Women take the brunt of housework and caretaking duties, homes schooling, working from home and perhaps looking after elderly parents, says Cherie Blair.

From farm to fork: The women championing agricultural transformation in Africa

By African Development Bank
From Sudan to Mali, Senegal to Mozambique, and Zambia to Mauritania, women are changing the face of agriculture, adapting and innovating to tackle the challenges of climate change, and feeding the continent’s growing population.

Coronavirus Hasn´t Slowed Down Ecological Women Farmers in Peru’s Andes Highlands

By Mariela Jara
It's eight o'clock in the morning and Pascuala Ninantay is carrying two large containers of water in her wheelbarrow to prepare with neighbouring women farmers 200 litres of organic fertiliser, which will then be distributed to fertilise their crops, in this town in the Andes highlands of Peru.

Women & Climate: Planting a Global Forest in a Connected World

By Rita Ann Wallace and Cynthia S Reyes
In January of this year, Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, shocked much of the world when they announced they would be stepping down from their roles as senior royals.

I Am Generation Equality: Storytelling for Equality

By Zareen Mahmud Hosein
When you flip through grade one Bangla school textbooks there is very little written about the progress women have made in Bangladesh since the Beijing Conference for Women in 1995.

UN Reaches 90:90 Gender Parity in Senior Leadership Transforming Organizational Culture

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations claims it has reached one of its primary goals relating to women’s rights in the world body: gender parity at senior levels of management and in the highest echelons of the Organization.

An Ambitious Year for Climate Action Is a Big Year for Women’s Empowerment

By Frank Rijsberman and Ingvild Solvang
This year, the Paris Agreement’s effectiveness as a global response to the climate crisis is being tested as governments are preparing to submit more ambitious national targets for mitigation and adaptation.

Many Milestones but Painfully Slow Progress Towards Gender Equality

By Farhana Haque Rahman
The narrative surrounding women’s rights in 2020 carries much hope and possibility. A new decade is ushering in important anniversaries and milestones: 25 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, 110 years since the birth of International Women's Day and the 10-year countdown to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

More Women in Tech Will Lead to Peaceful Gender Equal World

By Quratulain Fatima
It will take around 100 years for the world to reach gander parity according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 just published by World Economic Forum.

The Missing Women in Finance

By Renana Jhabvala, Sonal Sharma, and Soumya Kapoor Mehta
Women comprise a very small proportion of the financial industry workforce, and this has implications on the way female clients use and benefit from financial services.

Saudi Arabia Easing Male Guardianship: But More is Needed

By Suad Abu-Dayyeh
It comes as welcome news that authorities in Saudi Arabia have taken important steps towards dismantling the repressive male guardianship system, which treats women in the country as minors.
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