women's rights

Leading chocolate companies Mars, Mondelez International and Nestle have made some progress on their 2013 promises to improve gender equality in their cocoa supply chains but significant gaps still remain, according to an independent evaluation published today.

Women won’t be paid as much as men for another 75 years. That’s according to a report released by Oxfam today, which urges G20 leaders to tackle gender inequality when they meet in Australia later this year.

Across G20 countries and beyond, women are paid less than men, do most of the unpaid labor, are over-represented in part-time work, and are discriminated against in the household, in markets and in institutions.

At least one in three women worldwide will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, often perpetrated by an intimate partner. Violence against women and girls is a

At the closing of the first day of the Geneva II Conference, in Montreux, Oxfam’s Shaheen Chughtai said:

The biggest chocolate maker in the world, Mondelēz International, has agreed to take steps to address inequality facing women in their cocoa supply chains following pressure from consumers as part of the international aid agency Oxfam’s Behind the Brands campaign.

An investigation into four countries where Mars, Mondelez and Nestle purchase cocoa has shown that many women farmers face discrimination, unequal pay and hunger, leaving the companies’ social policies exposed as weak and needing work.

Women played a key role in Yemen's 2011 popular uprising, but almost a year on they are still waiting for change.

Louise Hancock, Oxfam's Afghanistan policy officer, said:

“It’s been another conference of flowery speeches: big on rhetoric and short on substance.  

Famous women and men from throughout the world are backing the new Green Scarves for Solidarity campaign, which calls on world leaders to keep their promises to Afghan women 10 years since the start of military intervention in Afghanistan.