We can hear African drums being played from the speakers as we make our way into a room which feels like a giant cinema. Greeting us are over 2,000 women and girls, ranging in age from 7 to 80, from over 140 countries. It is a sea of colourful, traditional dress depicting histories and cultures from all parts of the world, all gathered for the 12th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights in Development. "So many women,... Read more

This week, I didn't  go to a fabulous, energising international event held only once every four years: the AWID International Forum, 19-22 April in Istanbul, Turkey, which this year focused on transforming economic power to support women's rights. No. Instead, I was grounded here in Oxford, UK, with a bad back. Hasty plans had to be made to ensure Gender & Development's planned activities at AWID could go ahead... Read more

Last year's Arab Spring events have demonstrated the immense power that grassroots organising, social media, and collective power can have in creating change. We've seen revolutions and protests, campaigns and online actions, resonating with greater impact than ever before. Women, and women's rights organizations, have remained an essential part of the momentum of these movements and activities. This sense of collaborative... Read more

This month, the well-known TV show The Apprentice returned to British television, and a motley crew of young men and women swaggered across our screens at the start of their competition to obtain start-up business financing from 'Suralan' Sugar.  The solipsistic self-promotion, and clear belief that the cut-throat pursuit of short-term profits is both desirable and also a guarantor of success in business, sets these... Read more

The concept of the 'green economy' is a complex one, and the international community has yet to come to a political consensus on its meaning, use, usefulness, ensuing policy implications, or what actually constitutes a green economy.  The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) believes that to achieve equitable and sustainable development there needs to be a balance between the economy, society, and the environment.... Read more

In July 2010, a special issue of Gender & Development was published which analysed the impact of the economic crisis on women. At the time, there was very little evidence about the long term effect of the crisis. So where are we now, two years later?   Some things related to the crisis and women's lives are clear. The studies published two years ago demonstrated that in some countries and some sectors, women were facing... Read more

"In the night time it is very beneficial to have the phone, we can help pregnant women in labour on time."  Seng Chanthou is a female commune councillor (FCC) from the Treal Commune in the Baray district, central Cambodia. She is just one of the 45 women who received pink mobile phones as part of the Digital Vision Small Grant Development Programme. And helping to deliver babies is just one of the surprising ways in which... Read more

Oxfam has been involved in sustainable livelihoods and enterprise development since the 1960s, gaining practical experience in setting up businesses that deliver social as well as economic development. Since we believe that gender inequality is one of the greatest barriers to poverty eradication worldwide, over the last three years we have been piloting an innovative Enterprise Development Programme (EDP) - a unique initiative with an investment... Read more

The most striking thing about my first visit to Pakistan was the contradiction between an almost total lack of women in public spaces, high rates of violence against women,  a government structure increasingly committed to promoting de facto gender equality and my interactions with so many extremely confident, politically astute women.  Oxfam GB and the Aurat Foundation are trying to bridge this gap via a Raising Her Voice... Read more

A few months ago, on the happy concurrence of World Food Day and International Rural Women's Day, I blogged here on the important role women play in our food production and rural development, and I mentioned that we were working on a new publication: Gender Inequality: it's your Business. With consistent regard for important dates in the calendar, we are now publishing this new Briefing for Business in time for International... Read more