Tag Archives: Economics

Gender

Pakistan Feature | Women

Video

Keeping on Trucking

Shamim Akhtar, 53, has become the first woman granted a heavy vehicle license in Pakistan. Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe profiles the single mother who took up truck-driving in order to support her family and the challenges she faced on the road to her licensing.

Watch the full Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty feature on YouTube.

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Tajikistan & Russia News | Tajiks

Tajiks with aspirations of working in Russia face constricted opportunities as Russian language education dwindles
  • The Tajikistani government has asked for more Russian-language teachers from Russia to reinforce Tajikistan’s crumbling language education.
  • Russia’s new language requirements stymie economic opportunity in a country that sees more than 80% of its able-bodied population working abroad, with 1 million documented in Russia (and an unknown number of undocumented Tajik workers).
  • Poor digital infrastructure has inhibited distance-learning opportunities and Russian teachers have been reluctant to travel to the former Soviet nation, leading Tajiks to lose out to better-educated Kyrgyz workers with fewer political barriers.

“If we are healthy in future, God willing, I want to send him to Russia to study, because there is no hope for Tajik education. … At least, he will be able to work in Russia without too much trouble. I don’t think that by the time my son grows up, jobs will have been created in Tajikistan.”

Read the full story at EurasiaNet.

(Image Credit: David Trilling/EurasiaNet)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Latin America & the Caribbean Feature | Afro-Latinas

The Summer of the Afro-Latina

Image Credit: planeta-afro.org, via Global Voices
Image Credit: planeta-afro.org, via Global Voices

Summer 2015 saw a flurry of activities as Afro-Latina advocates and organizations united in forums and campaigns addressing the racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination experienced by women of African descent throughout Latin America. Events including the Afro-descendant Women Leaders of America Summit and advocates including bloggers, Descato Feminista (Feminist Contempt), Teatro en Sepia (Theater in Sepia), and the Red de Mujeres Afro-Latinoamericanas Afro-Caribeña y de la Diáspora (Network of Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean Women of the Diaspora) focused on issues including gender-based violence, domestic labor, and political representation. Global Voices explores the busy summer for Afro-Latina advocacy.

View the feature at Global Voices.

Age, Race + Color + Ethnicity

South Africa Feature | Black Children

Playing with Blackness

Image Credit: Leonardo Angelucci/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian
Image Credit: Leonardo Angelucci/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian

Childish Trading and Manufacturing founder Maite Makgoba hopes her Mommpy Mpoppy doll will help change the way young black South African children look at themselves. In a market overwhelmed by whiteness, her dolls feature dark skin and natural-looking hair, giving black children an opportunity to insert images of themselves into their play fantasies. The Guardian takes a look at the toy and the uphill market challenges Makgoba faces.

Read the full feature at the Guardian.

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.K. News & Research | LGBT

1 Comment
Report: 80% of largest U.K. companies lack trans-inclusive non-discrimination policies
  • LGBT network OUTstanding found that despite general statements of commitment to diversity, most FTSE 100 companies lack explicit policies on the books to protect trans employees from employment discrimination.
  • The report also found that just under half of the U.K.’s top companies lack specifically inclusive non-discrimination policies for LGB employees.
  • However, OUTstanding also reported that LGBT issues were the second-most discussed diversity topic, following gender inequality.

“From my own experience, I know that there are many enlightened CEOs who value diversity. In fact, 62% of our members say LGBT issues have been publicly discussed by their CEO. It’s vital that more businesses – including all those in the FTSE 100 – consider their attitude to LGBT inclusion as an asset worth reporting.”

Read the full story at HITC.

Health + Ability

Kenya News | Deaf & Hearing-Impaired

Uber program provides economic opportunities for hearing-impaired drivers in Nairobi
  • Deaf and hearing-impaired citizens are finding new income opportunities through a new pilot program from Uber and the Kenya National Association for the Deaf targeting the population.
  • The program makes it easier for Deaf individuals to bypass the strict licensing requirements that often inhibit community members from providing personal-service transportation in the country.
  • According to one professional association, there are more than 600,000 hearing-impaired people in Kenya.

Watch the Africa 54/VOA News report on YouTube.

Gender

Nigeria News | Women

Women’s rights groups in Lagos continue to combat discrimination and gender-based violence
  • One activist cited more than 500 cases of gender-based discrimination that her organization has handled so far in 2015.
  • Advocates have zeroed in on workplace discrimination as a key area for improvement, with women-unfriendly policies in recruitment and human resource policies like maternity leave erecting barriers to equal opportunity.
  • Women’s rights groups have also secured a pledge from newly inaugurated President Muhammadu Buhari to see women in at least 35% of government roles in his administration, which they plan to take action on should he renege on his campaign promise.

Watch the CCTV report on YouTube.

Ideology + Affiliation

Kazakhstan News | Dissident Workers

1 Comment
Kazakhstan police detain protesters attempting to launch an anti-corruption demonstration
  • Around 10 protesters were rounded up in the street and carried away to detention by police.
  • The demonstrators identified themselves as construction workers protesting the exclusion of construction firms from the market by the government.
  • Rights watchdogs have criticized the country for widespread corruption and intolerance of dissent

Watch the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report on YouTube.

Ideology + Affiliation

Zimbabwe News | Workers

Police break up worker protest following Supreme Court ruling in Zimbabwe
  • The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions had been planning to lead a demonstration in Harare before police arrived to disperse the crowd.
  • Plans for the demonstration emerged following the Supreme Court’s ruling that employers could terminate contracts on notice, which has reportedly led to significant job losses.
  • Smaller demonstrations moved forward in Gweru, Mutare, and other cities.

“The leaders (of the demonstrations) were taken and thrown all over Harare but that is not a solution. Government must know that they are creating a time bomb. We have 2018 that is coming and several issues that must be addressed.”

Read the full story at The Standard.

Gender

U.S. News | Men & Women

Netflix and Microsoft announce major expansions in parental leave policies
  • New parents at Netflix will now be able to take an unlimited amount of paid leave in the year following the birth or adoption of a child, regardless of gender.
  • At Microsoft, new fathers will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave, with an additional two weeks of paid prenatal leave and eight weeks of paid disability leave for new mothers.
  • A fifth of U.S. organizations offer family leave benefits above those required by state and short-term disability laws, despite the country’s lack of laws guaranteeing paid family leave for at least new mothers.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.

Nationality + Migration

China News | Immigrants

Shanghai debuts new work permit relaxing experience requirements for international students
  • The chuangye is one of a series of visa reforms recently rolled out to attract and retain foreign talent in Shanghai.
  • The residence permit waives the two-year experience requirement for international students graduating from a Shanghai university, allowing students to pursue internships or start-up work for two years after graduation while living in the city.
  • The first permit was issued to an Indonesian student, who reported that visa restrictions had proven a significant barrier to fellow classmates looking to remain in the city post-graduation.

Read the full story at Shanghaiist.

(Image Credit: The People’s Daily, via Shanghaiist)

Nationality + Migration

U.S. Feature | Guest Workers

The Low Tide of Slavery

The low-skilled counterpart to the U.S.’s highly promoted H1-B program, the H-2 visa program brings guest workers to the U.S. to fill low- or unskilled labor positions, including farm work, construction, household maintenance, and elements of the food harvesting supply chain. BuzzFeed News investigates how limited enforcement of regulations and workers’ unbreakable tie to their employer while in the country exacerbate employer-employee power inequalities in the program, leaving guest workers vulnerable to slavery-like exploitation including wage undercutting, visa and passport withholding, illegal fee leveraging, basic resource deprivation, and more insidious threats like sexual violence and death.

Read the full feature at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Ken Bensinger/BuzzFeed News)

Gender

South Africa News | Women

Aside
South African woman awarded country’s first drone pilot license
  • Nicole Swart, 23, was awarded the license by the South African Civil Aviation Authority.
  • Already a holder of the highest pilot’s license, Swart is certified to pilot planes in-person and remotely and also works as a testing standards officer.
  • The licensing comes as countries begin to build regulations for the operation of drones, controlled remotely from the ground or via another aircraft.

“It was important for me to get an RPAS pilot’s licence, as I believe technology is advancing rapidly and in the near future this mode of transport will be as common and necessary as cellular phones are in this era.”

Read the full story at News24.

(Image Credit: Facebook, via News24)

Gender

U.K. Feature | Men

Britain’s New Dad

The Guardian examines the changing culture of fatherhood in the U.K., with new paid paternal leave, flexible work options, shared parenting practices, and changing cultural attitudes encouraging dads to take on more domestic and familial responsibilities.  As women continue to confront the question while gaining stronger footing in the workplace, men too are beginning to ask: can they have it all?

Read the feature at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Matthew Farrant/The Guardian)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | LGB

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules existing civil rights law covers sexual orientation
  • The EEOC found that discrimination claims lodged by lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals against employers fall under sex discrimination, which is covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
  • The decision applies directly to federal employees but impacts nationwide employment security more broadly because the EEOC investigates discrimination claims from the private sector as well.
  • The development follows the commission’s 2014 ruling that gender identity was protected under Title VII, which the Justice Department joined later in the year.

“'[T]he question is not whether sexual orientation is explicitly listed in Title VII as a prohibited basis for employment actions. It is not,’ the commission found. Instead, the commission stated that the question is the same as in any other Title VII sex discrimination case: ‘whether the agency has “relied on sex-based considerations” or “take[n] gender into account” when taking the challenged employment action.’”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed.

(Image Credit: via BuzzFeed)