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Gender Justice & Women’s Rights

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An activist stands in front of a large body of water with her right fist raised triumphantly. To her left, in the background, is a large green ship transporting containers.

At a glance

If we are to end poverty we must tackle intersecting systems of oppression to realise gender equality and to protect, promote and realise the rights of women

We are working towards a world in which women and their allies are supported to challenge and change the conditions of poverty and discrimination they experience and achieve gender justice and equality. Poverty is sexist and racist, and women, particularly Black and Women of Colour, must lead and shape the solutions.

At the heart of our work to dismantle the structures of oppression is intersectional feminism which recognises that race, ethnicity, caste, class, age, marital status, sexuality, gender identity, (dis)ability and many other factors affect people’s experiences and ability to exercise their rights. By taking this holistic approach, we hope to create lasting radical transformations to the structures that constrain them.

We centre the experiences and voices of women, women’s rights and feminist organizations, who play an essential role in promoting gender equality and realising women’s rights to dismantle the inequalities that shape the experiences of all women and men around the world. All of our work on gender justice and women’s rights puts intersectional feminism at the centre, ensuring that it is strengthened at every stage.

Feminist Principles

As an intersectional feminist ally, Oxfam believes in ending sexism and that women should be free of political, social, and economic oppression and exploitation. In support of this aim, our work will be guided by 11 principles.

Go to principles

Essential reading for feminist activists around the world

Gender & Development Journal

Go to Gender and Development journal

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Women's economic empowerment

Seeking to change economic models so that women’s paid and unpaid work is valued and their rights and voices are stronger.

We-Care Programme

Explore our initiative to bring justice to the area of unpaid care and domestic work.

Briefing paper

The Assault of Austerity: How prevailing economic policy choices are a form of gender-based violence

22/11/2022

5 documents

40 pages long

Languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

This briefing paper argues that austerity measures are a form of gender-based violence against women, girls and non-binary people, and lays out clear examples of how fiscal consolidation affects them. Its core argument is that ending austerity must be a priority. The policies that deliver austerity’s deadly consequences can no longer be marketed as the […]

Briefing paper

Care Policy Scorecard: A tool for assessing country progress towards an enabling policy environment on care

20/09/2021

6 documents

90 pages long

Languages: English, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

Care work needs to be recognized, shared and invested in now more than ever given that progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 – Achieve Gender Equality – is behind target and COVID-19 has created additional challenges with increases in care work, poverty and precariousness that could reverse gains made in gender equality and poverty […]

Research report

Caring in a changing climate: Centering care work in climate action

23/02/2022

1 documents

129 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The global care crisis is being exacerbated by the global climate emergency, with interlocking impacts that threaten lives and livelihoods in all parts of the world. These impacts are particularly severe among rural livelihoods in low-income countries. Climate change intensifies the work involved in caring for people, animals, plants, and places. It reduces the availability […]

Journal article

Editorial: Women human rights defenders

23/05/2023

10 pages long

Free access through journal website

Editorial: Women human rights defenders

Keywords

Overview

Introduction to the March 2023 Issue on 'Women human rights defenders'.

Journal article

Introduction: A gender-responsive recovery: ensuring women’s decent work and transforming care provision

31/08/2022

13 pages long

Free access through journal website

Introduction: A gender-responsive recovery: ensuring women’s decent work and transforming care provision

Keywords

Overview

This is the introduction to the journal issue on 'A gender-responsive recovery: ensuring women’s decent work and transforming care provision'.

Journal article

Introduction: feminist protests and politics in a world in crisis

07/12/2021

21 pages long

Free access through journal website

Introduction: feminist protests and politics in a world in crisis

Keywords

Feminist activism

Overview

This is the introductory article to Gender & Development issue 29(2&3) Feminist Protests and Politics in a World in Crisis

Guidelines and toolkits

Social Norms Diagnostic Tool: Young Women’s Economic Justice

20/12/2021

1 documents

35 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The tool’s methodology is rooted in a feminist and youth-led participatory action research approach to diagnosing social norms. It uses participatory and transformative methods to engage young people and other community members not just as research participants, but as agents of change identifying solutions to arising issues. The exercises recognize and examine unequal power inequalities […]

Research report

Social Norms Structuring Masculinities, Gender Roles, and Stereotypes: Iraqi men and boys’ common misconceptions about women and girls’ participation and empowerment

31/08/2021

1 documents

53 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The limited participation of Iraqi women in community decision-making in Kirkuk and Diyala is the result of various intertwined factors. This study explores emerging opportunities for social transformation in the context of sedimented layers of male privilege and the questioning of restrictive gender norms in the two governorates. With this report, Oxfam and its partners […]

Research report

Gender and Technology: A rights-based and intersectional analysis of key trends

05/05/2021

1 documents

100 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

This report employs an intersectional feminist framework to identify and analyze key trends related to gender and technology. It aims to provide a holistic picture of how gender and technology are embedded in and influenced by a myriad of intersecting issues and challenges that complicate how ICT for development (ICT4D) initiatives concretely impact women’s lives. […]

Discussion paper

Feminist Futures: Caring for people, caring for justice and rights

14/09/2020

4 documents

23 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, communities around the world are weighing the many possible answers to the questions of ‘how did we arrive here?’, ‘what comes after COVID-19?’ and ‘what kind of society do we want to build after this global shock?’ The pandemic has been so extraordinary in nature that in order to […]

Discussion paper

Transforming Power to Put Women at the Heart of Peacebuilding: A collection of regional-focused essays on feminist peace and security

21/09/2020

1 documents

80 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

The twentieth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) is in October 2020. It is a landmark resolution on women’s role in peacebuilding, but progress on women’s rights and leadership in peace and security decision making continues to fall short. This discussion paper brings together three regional essays commissioned to explore what needs to […]

Guidelines and toolkits

The Oxfam Gender Training Manual

01/01/1994

14 documents

648 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

This manual is a unique resource for gender and development trainers which draws on the work of gender trainers all over the world. It offers field-tested training activities and handouts drawn from a wide range of sources and shaped into a coherent training programme. The Oxfam Gender Training Manual includes activities which explore: Gender Awareness […]

Guidelines and toolkits

A Guide to Gender-Responsive Budgeting

28/02/2018

10 documents

8 pages long

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

A gender-responsive budget is a budget that works for everyone (women and men, girls and boys) by ensuring gender-equitable distribution of resources and by contributing to equal opportunities for all. Gender-responsive budgeting is essential both for gender justice and for fiscal justice. It involves analysing government budgets for their effect on genders and the norms […]

Guidelines and toolkits

Quick Guide to Gender-Sensitive Indicators

30/01/2014

1 documents

3 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

A gender-sensitive indicator is simply an indicator that measures gender-related changes in society over time. By identifying the changes in the status and roles of women and men that we want to achieve and knowing how we will measure them, we can analyse our programme outcomes to see whether we are contributing to gender equality. Using […]

Discussion paper

Applying Feminist Principles to Program Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

26/07/2017

1 documents

24 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

Oxfam is committed to mainstreaming women’s rights and to transforming unequal gender and power relations. For its programmes, this means that it needs to track its contributions to these changes. This paper aims to share reflections on how to apply feminist principles to monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) practice. It includes case studies of […]

Photo captions and credit

Marlin Carine Garces Panameño, an activist in the Enough campaign in Colombia. Elizabeth Stevens / Oxfam