In Depth
Dignified work

Dignified work

Why is dignified work crucial for women’s economic empowerment? 

Dignified work enables the economic empowerment of women through promoting decent working conditions, tackling the barriers that women face to achieving equity in the workplace, and supporting women to take control over their wages and unpaid care work.

Women workers face many barriers to economic empowerment inside and outside of the ‘workplace’, including issues at work (such as unequal working conditions), in their homes and communities, and during their commute. These barriers all have an impact on their ability to stay in work, the conditions of their work, and the economic benefits of it for women. Dignified work promotes the economic empowerment of women workers in all spheres of their lives. Find out more in this Insights blog and this video.  

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Blogs See all

What does Women’s Economic Justice mean to you? An interview with Sidonie Adjiwa
As CARE gets ready to launch its new Women’s Economic Justice strategy, we’re sharing some diverse perspectives on why women’s economic justice matters and what’s needed to achieve it. As…
What does Women’s Economic Justice mean to you? An interview with Shanti Uprety
As CARE gets ready to launch its new Women’s Economic Justice strategy, we’re sharing some diverse perspectives on why women’s economic justice matters and what’s needed to achieve it. Shanti…
What does Women’s Economic Justice mean to you? An interview with Linda Scott
As CARE gets ready to launch its new Women’s Economic Justice strategy, we’re sharing some diverse perspectives on why women’s economic justice matters and what’s needed to achieve it. Linda…
Five principles for powerful partnerships: where profit meets social impact
A catalytic collaboration in Vietnam is stimulating business growth for women entrepreneurs by challenging misconceptions and improving access to finance, networks and critical support services. Here we share five key…

Publications See all

Making the green transition work for women
Increasing gender gaps in the world of work demonstrate the deep and persistent barriers that women face to realise their economic rights and opportunities. COVID-19 has further deepened gender inequalities,…
Women on the Move Global Report 2021: Women's Collective Voice
Women on the Move (WOM) is a CARE regional strategy to mobilize existing savings groups (previously referred to as Village Savings & Loan Associations, or VSLA) in West Africa to…
Partnership in CARE
CARE's Partnership Paper provides a unified CARE International definition of partnership and proposes an overarching framework and recommendations to enable CARE to partner with new and diverse organisations in new and diverse…
Generation Equality Forum: CARE commitments
As a leader in the Generation Equality Forum (GEF), CARE is making bold commitments to invest $100 million in supporting 10 million women and girls as leaders through savings and solidarity…

Video

Find out how CARE's Made by Women strategy economically empowers women garment workers in Asia.

You might also be interested in...

Fashion Transparency Index 2020 – find out how the biggest global fashion brands are doing on transparency about 'who made my clothes' – a crucial step towards dignified work in the fashion industry (answer: not very well, but getting better)

What next for Asian garment production after COVID-19? The perspectives of industry stakeholders – analysis by the ILO, including input from CARE, on how the garment industry is expected to change as a result of COVID-19 and the potential impact this will have on workers

COVID-19: Action in the global garment industry – this call, which CARE is a signatory to, aims to catalyse action from across the global garment industry to protect garment workers’ income, health and employment, while also calling for work on sustainable systems of social protection for a more just and resilient garment industry

The civil society shadow European strategy for sustainable textile, garments, leather and footwear – a group of 65 diverse civil society organisations have come together to set out their vision for a fair and sustainable sector

ILO Global Summit on COVID-19 and the World of Work: Building a better future of work – view recordings from the largest ever online summit of workers, employers and government representatives to address the impact of COVID-19 on the world of work

 

Resources and links

United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The Ethical Trading Initiative's code of labour practice and its resources for companies, trade unions and NGOs interested in promoting respect for workers' rights

International Labour Organization (ILO) website including information about the Decent Work Agenda and COVID-19 and the World of Work

International Trade Union Confederation website

Business and Human Rights Resource Centre website

WIEGO: Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing website

Business Fights Poverty website

Better Work website – a collaboration between the United Nation's International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)