Women’s survival strategies in Chechnya: from self-care to caring for each other

What would a combination of self and community care look like? For activists in Chechnya, it means creating individual and organizational security plans, for example, that ensure if one woman is threatened, there are others standing by to help to keep her safe, writes Keely Tongate. Luiza encounters regular violence and intimidation in her work […]

Read More

Recovery with rights: Towards an economy that cares

The global financial crisis led to greater job loss and poverty among women than men while rising food prices and responsibility for social reproduction take excessive tolls on the livelihoods of women. Financial crises and austerity measures to combat crises undermine the human rights to work, education, health and nourishment and the capacity to provide […]

Read More

The structural problem of misogyny

New feminism should stand together with the new proletariats against female exploitation and violence. It is time to recognise the struggle to control women’s bodies in all forms as deeply politically misogynist even if there is no easy way to mobilise and collectivise this effort writes feminist Zillah Eisenstein*.   The world seems upside down […]

Read More

Solidarity economy initiatives from the ground up: What can we learn from the women home-based workers of Southeast Asia?

What can the most invisible and marginalized of women workers contribute to the discourse on solidarity economy based on their concrete experiences over time? This question acquires significance in the light of the combined financial, economic, and environmental crises coupled with the increasing incidence of disasters in Southeast Asia. These have led to massive job […]

Read More

Gender and Economic Justice: Dreaming alternatives

Jayati Ghosh argues it is time for feminists to enter into the discussion of alternatives more forcefully in order to define how economic institutions and policies can ensure a gender-just economy and society. Introduction We have just lived through a phase in which the only grand idea that survived in much of the world seemed […]

Read More

Missing Women: The G20, Gender Equality and Global Economic Governance

Posted in Financial Flows, Global Governance on April 12th, 2013 by

The Group of 20 (G20) has declared itself the “premier global economic forum” and was created to tackle the most pressing challenges confronting the world economy today, including reducing instability and preventing future financial crises. The G20 has committed itself to a goal of shared and inclusive growth. Given this commitment, it is striking how […]

Read More

‘Investing’ in Women’s Rights: Challenges and new trends

Angelika Arutyunova. Women’s rights activists and advocates are not the only ones talking about the importance of inclusion of women and girls in the development processes. From the World Bank to corporations, investing in women and girls trend has picked up over the past years. At the same time, AWID’s Where is the Money for […]

Read More

Making care visible

Posted in Labour & Work, The Role of the State on April 12th, 2013 by

Every day the majority of women spend time – and often very long hours – cooking, cleaning, and caring for children, the ill and the elderly. Yet this work is not captured in data, is not discussed in national debates, and is usually not considered when designing and implementing economic and social policies. It remains […]

Read More

Embracing Disruptions, Responding to Uncertainties, Valuing Agency: Situating a Feminist approach to social protection

Posted in Labour & Work, The Role of the State on April 12th, 2013 by

Elizabeth Reid, Marilyn Waring, Corina Rodriguez Enriquez and Meena Shivdas examine social protection explaining what ‘social protection’ means, and the design and delivery of social protection interventions. They outline a feminist approach to social protection based on recent research on unpaid care work and applied strategies on women and children’s rights to land and other […]

Read More

Women’s Movements and Economic Power: Connecting the local and the global

Lisa VeneKlasen and Alia Khan. The authors present first a contextual analysis of the forces and actors shaping the reality of women’s lives today. They outline the importance of changing hearts and minds with time-tested strategies and new forms of organizing that can fuel development of and support for alternative economic arrangements that respect the rights, dignity, and […]

Read More

Barricades to Gender Equity in the International Financial Architecture

Posted in Financial Flows on April 12th, 2013 by

By Bhumika Muchhala. Two areas in the international economic and financial architecture that impede the realization of developmental objectives and gender equity are briefly focused on, and include the contractionary macroeconomic policy framework espoused by the International Monetary Fund, the trend of financial liberalization and the volatility of capital flows and problems caused by it. The […]

Read More

Women Long to Work in Peace

Posted in Labour & Work, Militarism, Violence & Conflict on April 9th, 2013 by

By K. S. Harikrishnan. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India , Mar 28 2013 (IPS) – 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. Although the […]

Read More

Unmasking religious fundamentalisms: women’s rights, freedoms and resistance Session

Posted in Culture & Religion on March 27th, 2013 by

What impact is the rise of religious fundamentalisms having on women’s rights and freedoms? How are activists fighting back?. This session – one of the top ten breakout sessions as voted for by Forum participants – shared insights from AWID’s research which gathered analysis from hundreds of activists on religious fundamentalisms, along with strategies and […]

Read More

Men as Providers: The Unmaking of a Legal Fiction in Muslim Family Laws

Posted in Culture & Religion on March 13th, 2013 by

This session – one of the top ten breakout sessions as voted for by Forum participants – presented findings from a Musawah research project on rethinking and challenging the concept of qiwamah (male authority) in Muslim family laws, which legitimises and institutionalises a patriarchal model of family. It also explored strategies to transform power relations […]

Read More