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].
Understanding the challenges faced by the millions of women working outside the formal sector.
Follow via RSS
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.
In part 2 of our report on the low-income food sellers of Nairobi, we examine the threats facing the women who provide this vital link in the food-security chain – and what the future may hold for them.
Kenyan women operate low-cost food kiosks that fulfill an essential function: providing hot food to people too poor to buy fuel to cook their own meals. But they often struggle to make ends meet, not least because some of their clients are unable to pay.
The oil-rich Gulf States depend on the migrant labor of millions of domestic workers to cook, clean and care for children across the region. For those workers, the chance of a better life for their own families comes with the risk of exploitation, abuse, even slavery.
The unofficial street traders of Dar Es Salaam used to endure insecure work conditions and harassment from militias. Now a government program is allowing them to make their businesses official for the first time.
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.
Nisha Mathews is a campaigner and hero to many women in Karnataka in India. She’s helped set up a union for domestic workers in the region, which today has more than 13,000 members.
Rwanda’s attempts to boost its garment sector have sparked a trade war with Trump, and might have made it more difficult for women to get stable jobs in the nascent industry.
Sexual assault survivors are heavily stigmatized in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But by starting up their own small businesses, some women have been able to reintegrate into their communities, and feed their families.
In northeastern Zimbabwe, the wives of underpaid mine workers have staged a four-month sit-in to demand their husbands be paid their full wage. They’ve won the backpay – plus entrepreneurship training for themselves.
On the coast of Senegal, fish stocks have fallen by 80 percent in the past year alone. The women fish processors of the region have been hit hardest, with worrying consequences for food security and nutrition.
Deepta Chopra Development Geographer with a Focus on Women’s Empowerment
Reaching gender equality in paid work means more than just giving women jobs – we need to put in place systems for public services and decent employment to allow women time and energy to care for their families, says Deepta Chopra of the Institute of Development Studies.
Gisma Magara works with women in Juba’s camp for people who have fled South Sudan’s civil war. She tells her story to Sam Mednick.
Women cross-border traders used to endure exploitation, abuse, and low income. But a new ‘one-stop’ border post that brings all customs activities together has increased engagement between the women and customs officials, making trading safer and more lucrative.
Kenya’s tourism industry has been crippled by terrorism and political violence and let down by lack of development. For the women who rely on the sector for their income, the question is whether they will ever again earn enough to support their families.
One is modernizing community healthcare in Zimbabwe; the other builds affordable toilets in Vietnam. But English Sall and Camilla Hagen, two philanthropists in the Maverick Collective, are driven by the same belief: women’s health is key to economic progress.
They hear about the abuse and know they will be working illegally, but young women still travel to the Middle East to work as domestic workers. To help understand why, photojournalist Jihad Abaza documented the lives of three migrant women working for a family in Egypt.
In our WhatsApp story for International Women’s Day, we used real-time updates to understand the challenges three women face during the course of a typical work day. Here we replicate the story with further insight into the obstacles that keep so many women from gaining stable and equal work.
Economic power and political power go hand-in-hand, says feminist activist Jessica Horn. If a development project wants to boost women’s economic participation, it needs to help them raise their voices, too.
To achieve economic equality, activist and author Vandana Shiva says we need to recognize the value of women’s work and start counting production, not just profits.
On International Women’s Day, we’re broadcasting a 12-hour WhatsApp story about a day in the life of three working women. To sign up, message “NEWS DEEPLY” and your time zone to +1929-382-0011 using WhatsApp.
As delegates gather for this year’s World Urban Forum, one urgent question is how to ensure urbanization doesn’t make it even harder for women in the informal economy to earn money and support their families.
The head of the International Trade Union Confederation speaks to News Deeply about recognizing unpaid care, representing the rights of domestic workers, and what automation means for women.
On our first episode of the year, we lay out the crucial issues on women’s economic advancement that we will examine in 2018, and discuss how #WEF18 did on gender this year, with a live dispatch from Davos.
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.
Our best economics stories from 2017, and a request for experts for our growing coverage in 2018.
When 32 Zimbabwean women escaped their abusive employers in Kuwait, they struggled to find work back home. A new initiative offers them money and support to start their own businesses or go to college.
From the #metoo movement to abortion rights in Latin America, marriage rulings in India and humanitarian crises in East Africa and the Middle East, it’s been a blockbuster year for women and girls worldwide.
Many of Rwanda’s illegal street vendors are women, many of whom are struggling to raise children alone. Now they’re in the crosshairs of a state crackdown, facing endemic sexual harassment.
Political instability in Kenya is driving demand for new housing in provinces outside the major cities. And it’s increasingly women who are taking up tools to provide gravel to construction developers.
The “recicladoras” of Bogota are an essential part of the city’s environmental landscape. And for many women, sorting through waste and diverting recyclable material from landfills has provided an economic lifeline.
With millions of Nepalese men leaving their homes to work in the Gulf states, women are taking on new responsibilities, beyond what has previously been expected of them in a largely patriarchal society. But some are finding that old attitudes die hard.
India has one of the lowest rates for women in paid employment in the world. But women’s groups in rural areas are helping each other to start businesses and become financially independent.
Just when the Kenyan women of Lake Victoria were able to shake off the threat of sexual assault and join the fishing trade, a conflict with Ugandan authorities has stripped them of their hard-earned savings.
Generations of women across Laos have taught their daughters how to weave and create handicrafts, mostly for their own use. Now, they are becoming master artisans and entrepreneurs, making an income from centuries-old traditions.
More than 1 million homes were damaged or destroyed during the earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, 2015. With many Nepali men working overseas, women are learning new skills to help rebuild the country from the rubble.
One year on from a devastating earthquake, a group of young Nepalese women are using an age-old craft as a new way to support their families and boost the local economy.
Have a story idea? Interested in adding your voice to our growing community?
Learn more