gender inequality

Women farmers play a central role in small-scale agriculture. But they are held back by barriers that prevent them from feeding their families and reinvesting in their livelihoods. A real support would protect their rights, boost their productivity and unleash their potential to fight hunger, poverty and climate change.

Since the end of April 2017, Yemen has been experiencing its worst recorded outbreak of suspected cholera in a single year. By mid-August, more than 500,000 cases were recorded. Significant and urgent scale up in all areas of intervention is needed.

This study aims to understand how conflict and fragility in four different contexts – Egypt, Iraq, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Yemen – have impacted the realization of gender equality and gender justice in the past several years of political and social upheaval. 

"Women and girls are today bravely taking a stand and Oxfam stands with them in solidarity," said Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International Executive Director and women’s rights leader, this International Women’s Day.

Rwandan women head close to a third of agricultural households and provide almost two thirds of the labour on family farms. Despite this, they have very little control over the sale of cash crops. With the support of Oxfam, the women members of the Tuzamurane cooperative grow and sell pineapples together and are no longer trapped in a low income cycle.

Despite some important progress in recent years, in no country have women achieved economic equality with men, and women are still more likely than men to live in poverty. Gender inequality in work costs women in developing countries $9 trillion a year – a sum which would provide a massive boost to the global economy.

Women across the globe are facing new threats which risk dismantling decades of hard-won rights and derailing the effort to end extreme poverty, Oxfam warns today. 

Women’s economic empowerment could reduce poverty for everyone. In order to achieve it, we need to first fix the current broken economic model which is undermining gender equality and causing extreme economic inequality.

Did you know that at least one in three women will experience some form of violence during their lifetime? It is one of the most widespread violations of human rights and has long-term devastating effects. We can change this: join us and say ‘Enough’!