Dear Deeply Readers,
Welcome to the archives of Women’s Advancement Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on November 15, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on women’s economic advancement. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].
Inside the fight for gender-equal access to property, land rights and inheritance.
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In Part 2 of a two-part report on the informal banks that help women secure financial stability, we look at the safeguards the women have put in place to protect their pooled resources.
In Part 1 of a two-part report on the informal banks that help women secure financial stability, we look at a savings group in Kenya that grants independence to the women who join it.
Shipra Deo
On the U.N.’s International Day of Rural Women, Shipra Deo of land rights organization Landesa looks at two women who embody the tenacious spirit found in India’s rural communities and explains how overturning gender inequality is central to achieving the SDGs.
Tensions are running high in India’s Khasi community, one of the world’s few remaining matrilineal societies, as a new bill seeks to prevent women from marrying non-tribal members.
When the government bought their land to make way for a new railway line, the residents of Kangawa village were promised compensation. Two years on, the women of the village are staging a sit-in protest, demanding fair pay for the loss of their land and livelihoods.
The Tanzanian Women’s Bank, designed to close the financial gender gap between men and women, fell victim to bad loans and the country’s ongoing liquidity crisis.
A bill designed to eradicate gender inequality in politics, education and employment has been sitting in the Nigerian Senate for eight years. Now the upcoming 2019 election could erode support among key senators.
Kamala Damor, or Sister Kamala, works with women and girls in rural Gujarat to help them access their right to property and inheritance. She tells her story to Chhavi Sachdev.
The cultural norms in western Kenya told Martha Otieno that, as a woman, she couldn’t own land. So, she leased it instead, built a successful farming business, and is now on her way to becoming the first woman landowner in the region.
Most women’s savings groups focus on small-scale ventures, but the Murang’a County Women SACCO wanted to think bigger. So they built an apartment block to house students, defying the financial and cultural obstacles that stop so many women from owning land in Kenya.
In our June episode of Deeply Talks, experts join us to discuss issues affecting widows and the unique disadvantages they face as they try to earn a living and care for their families.
Despite being at peace, India has the largest number of war widows in the world. They say the government assistance they have received is not enough to live a dignified life.
Joan Carling has been campaigning for Indigenous sovereignty and gender equality for decades, but this year President Rodrigo Duterte placed her on a list of ‘terrorists,’ making it impossible for her to go home. She shares her experience with News Deeply.
According to Kenyan law, a divorcing couple’s property should be divided based on each spouse’s contribution. But rights advocates who tried, and failed, to change the law to an even split say women’s contributions are largely non-monetary and hard to prove in court.
Ram Devi Tamang was forced to leave her home with her two young children when her husband died, but today she is working to break taboos around what a widow can and can’t do in Nepal.
Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt Professor of Human Geography, Lund University
Researchers from Lund University found that, even when women own land in six African countries, their husbands are still perceived as household heads.
When a mining company offered to relocate villagers in Kwale County, Kenya one woman farmer refused to leave and another took the deal. Now both are struggling to make ends meet as they demand equal and fair compensation.
Widows of South Sudan’s civil war are often left with nothing when their husbands die. NGO-funded small businesses are helping them survive, but with the charity sector facing a crisis of its own, that funding could soon dry up.
Uganda has some of the most progressive laws for people with disabilities in Africa, but public perception has not always kept up. Three NGOs are trying to turn that around by offering economic opportunities for women.
In Nigeria, widows often suffer a double loss: after their husbands die, the assets they should inherit are taken by their in-laws. Two NGOs are trying to stop the abuse and exploitation of widows by promoting their rights and calling for stronger legislation.
Failed by flawed government policies and left out of development programs, women farmers around India are coming together to demand fair treatment and access the support to which they are entitled.
Mining for gold can provide a solid livelihood for many living in Kenya’s Kakamega county. But customary beliefs prohibit women from entering the mines, even on their own land, forcing them either to lease the land or leave the precious metal in the ground.
Monica Mhoja Tanzania Program Director, Landesa
When a widow is accused of being a witch in Tanzania, she can be blamed for her husband’s death, thrown off her land or lose her children. Some are killed for the imagined crime of killing their husband. Landesa’s Monica Mhoja explains why the government must step in.
New research by Transparency International looking at the prevalence of land corruption in Africa finds the practice disproportionately affects women, and calls for innovative responses to tackle the problem.
The World Bank has found that the majority of the world’s countries restrict women economically in some way, with 104 countries preventing women from doing the same work as men.
Highlights from a closing session, organized by NGO CSW/NY and News Deeply, on the outcomes of the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women and takeaways for implementation and inclusion.
For unmarried women living with their partners in Uganda, there is no law – legal or customary – to stop them from losing their homes when their relationships end.
Tunisia’s president wants to make his country the first in the Arab world to grant women equal inheritance rights. On Saturday, Tunisian women turned out to support his proposal.
In our March episode of Deeply Talks, which falls on the first day of the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), our editors examine this year’s theme of empowering rural women and girls, featuring insights from two experts.
Ayesha Ahmad Lecturer, Medical Ethics and Law at St George's University of London
Many international donors want to invest in Afghan women’s economic potential. But the country needs to transform its entire gender infrastructure to really change women’s lives, writes Ayesha Ahmad.
Kenya’s 2010 constitution guaranteed women extensive land and property rights. But the message wasn’t getting out to the remote communities of the north until a community radio station stepped in.
When Kenya passed the Matrimonial Property Act five years ago, it joined a series of laws protecting women’s access to their property. But patriarchal traditions and lack of awareness about their rights leave many women fighting to keep land that is legally theirs.
In the Philippines, lack of divorce laws means hefty annulment fees, no division of assets and no child support for women whose marriages break down. But a new bill is trying to change that.
After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is home to around 2.5 million widows, with an average age of 35. Struggling to support themselves and unaware of their rights, these young women also suffer under cultural customs that leave them isolated and impoverished.
To make real progress on women’s economic advancement in developing countries, we need better data and systems-level thinking, says Alison Holder, Director of Equal Measures 2030. She spoke with Women’s Advancement Deeply about what she’s watching in 2018.
For years, international development has focused on giving women traditionally ‘female’ jobs in the name of ‘empowerment.’ But donors are increasingly realizing the error of leaving women’s rights out of their programs, writes gender and development professional Coby Jones.
When the women of Rwandit village learned how much initiation ceremonies for girls and boys were really costing them – in terms of money and lost education – they radically reformed their traditions, giving women and girls more power in the process.
The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh needs a new capital, and the government wants to build it on the banks of the Krishna river. One woman is leading the fight against the development, which is slated to occupy some of the most fertile lands in the country.
At a land policy conference last week, African governments adopted a resolution to grant documented land rights to at least 30 percent of their female populations by 2025. But to do that they must navigate a complicated mix of local laws and long-held customs.
Chinese demand for donkey skins has led to widespread poaching and pushed the price of the animals out of reach for many in Kenya. And when a family loses a donkey, it’s women who have to make up for the loss.
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