Browse by Theme: Women's Voice

In 2011, the International Labour Conference voted to adopt Convention 189 which, for the first time, mandates state supported protection to ensure decent work for domestic workers. Yet to date, only 12 countries have ratified and submitted the convention.

As an organisation dedicated to helping women and girls overcome poverty and injustice, CARE International is working to ensure that more follow suit.

Coinciding with the March 2014 Commission on the Status of Women taking place in New York, which is focussing on gender in the Millennium Development Goals, this policy brief provides suggestions on how to best enable progress on gender equality in the areas that have seen least progress since 2000.

After decades of rule characterised by dictatorship, patronage and violence, in 2010 young people in the Arab world began to rise up and demand a new kind of politics. Women played their part as leaders and participants, and were not spared the backlash – suffering arrests, sexual harassment and even death. Though many commentators have warned that the Arab Spring is turning into an Autumn or Winter, with human rights rolled back and hopes for change dashed, CARE International’s research presents a more complex picture. As the dust continues to settle, there are both challenges and opportunities to expand the role women play in shaping the forces that affect their lives. The continuing upheaval in Egypt suggests that failures to address the root causes of the uprising and open up politics to new actors may not be sustainable over the long term.

In February 2012 CARE Pakistan started a project titled: 'Advocating for improved maternal newborn health (MNH) and sexual reproductive health (SRH) policy and practice for adolescent girls and young mothers (AIMS).' Implemented in partnership with Rahnuma-Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP), this 14 month initiative combined evidence based research with targeted advocacy to successfully bring about changes in Pakistan's policies regarding MHN and SRH for adolescent girls and young mothers.

The AIMS project aimed to increase awareness regarding the specific reproductive and sexual health needs of adolescent girls and young mothers, and to advocate for their inclusion in provincial health policies. CARE and FPAP used evidence from the project's research to design a targeted advocacy strategy and to engage with key stakeholders including provincial parliamentarians, district officials, community leaders, civil society and media representatives, through a structured process of meetings, workshops and consultations. This is one of the outcomes of the project's research component.

The inability of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to agree conclusions at their last meeting in 2012 represented a significant set-back in the long fight for women’s rights. This briefing note sets out what needed to happen to ensure this years session focussing on violence against women was a success.

It suggests developing and adopting a strong set of conclusions that clearly illustrate how states and civil society can make significant progress towards eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls. The Commission are urged to seize the opportunity of the 57th session to accelerate implementation of existing commitments through evidence-based, holistic and integrated approaches spanning the continuum of prevention and multi-sectoral services and responses.

"Adapting to climate change is about reducing vulnerability to current and projected climate risks. Vulnerability to climate change is determined in large part by people’s adaptive capacity. A particular climate hazard, such as a drought, does not affect all people within a community - or even the same household - equally because some people have greater capacity than others to manage the crisis. The inequitable distribution of rights, resources and power – as well as repressive cultural rules and norms – constrain many people’s ability to take action on climate change.

This is especially true for women. Therefore, gender is a critical factor in understanding vulnerability to climate change. CARE’s approach to adaptation begins with comprehensive analysis, including an examination of differential vulnerability due to social, political and economic inequalities."

For successful climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, Parties at COP17 need to explicitly address gender equality and women’s empowerment, building on, and ensuring the implementation of, existing gender considerations in UNFCCC decisions agreed over the past 3 years.

Without appropriate efforts to reduce gender inequalities at all levels, strategies to address climate change will not be effective and sustainable. Gender-blind strategies may perpetuate or may even exacerbate these inequalities, undermining human rights and reversing achievements on vulnerability reduction and poverty eradication.