It’s the United Nations’ International Women’s Day — a day that sprang from the commemoration of the 15,000 women who protested in New York against harsh working conditions and paltry pay in 1909. Though women’s rights have improved on paper since then, in reality things remain grim the world over.
Also in today’s edition: We ask what polycrisis philanthropy is, and reveal the new appointments at Africa CDC.
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Terrifying and futile
Although arguably women have come a long way since the suffragettes fought to give some of us the right to vote and, on paper at least, equal rights, women globally — yes, everywhere — still face a terrifying daily battle to secure their rights and be considered on par with men.
And terrifying is an apt descriptor for many women. Remember the persecution by entities of the Iranian state against women for refusing to wear the hijab? Remember Manahel al-Otaibi and Salma al-Shehab are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for tweeting about women’s rights. Remember Justyna Wydrzyńska is convicted in Poland for “helping” with an abortion. The list is long.
It’s as though we take one step forward and two steps back in life. How is that even possible after all these years?
On International Women’s Day today and ahead of next week’s big U.N. conference on the status of women, we take a look at gender violence faced by women in agriculture and find out what it’s really like to work in gender equality and social inclusion.
There are the usual events, marches, and rhetoric on women's empowerment planned globally today, but do they ever push the cause forward, or are they just futile gestures, merely tolerated to placate women and maintain a facade of progressiveness? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, we'll do our best to bring you the good, the bad, and the terrifying on the long road to gender equity.
On that note, our Managing Editor Anna Gawel will be at the U.N. event along with Senior Global Reporter Colum Lynch, so if you want to get in touch with them, reach out: anna.gawel@devex.com and colum.lynch@devex.com.
+ On March 18, we’ll be hosting a roundtable of gender equality leaders to discuss the state of play on Sustainable Development Goal 5, current priorities in this space, and the challenges created by the political and funding situation. Save your spot now.
GESI challenges
Despite increasing recognition of its importance, professionals in gender equality and social inclusion, or GESI, encounter systemic biases, limited resources, and institutional barriers that hinder their efforts to drive change, writes Katrina Lane for Devex.
We hosted Merit Hietanen, a senior gender adviser consultant, Thais Bessa, director of gender equality and social inclusion at Tetra Tech, and Yasmina Benslimane, founder of Politics4Her. Here’s what they had to say:
Equality and inclusion relate to very ingrained personal beliefs and attitudes, as well as the norms in the society where we grew up, Bessa explains. That's why “nobody is immune to biases.” She called on GESI professionals to read nuances as “what works to influence one person or one organization is not going to work with another one.”
The efficacy of GESI efforts hinges on executing specific projects and influencing and integrating with the wider spectrum of programming. “The money for actual GESI programming is also limited, so in the end, the real change happens in how you influence all the other programming and how you can affect the mainstreaming within that,” Hietanen explains.
An academic degree should not limit potential but rather serve as a foundation for continuous learning and growth. “Your degree does not define you. I did not necessarily study gender. I studied political science, international law, and forced migration,” highlights Benslimane while emphasizing the importance of embracing a multifaceted approach to career development.
Read: What it's really like to be a GESI professional (Career)
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Farm women face abuse
Globally, more than 1 in 3 working women are employed in the agricultural sector; and it’s much higher in low- and middle-income countries.
But for those women, harmful social norms undercut access to education, land, and opportunities, making them more vulnerable to poverty and violence, write Joky François and Elizabeth Kiende Njenga from the Rainforest Alliance in their opinion piece for Devex.
“Gender bias in hiring often puts women in low-paid jobs, on temporary contracts, and under male-dominated supervision. This situation further engrains a power imbalance between men and women, increasing the risk of violence against women and girls.
“In many rural areas, violence against women isn’t even recognized as abuse and violence against women in agriculture often goes unreported. This is reflected in a wider trend indicating that nearly half of gender-violence victims choose not to speak out,” they write.
Deep-rooted change demands collaboration among local governments, authorities, companies, communities, and civil society organizations to address the root causes. They explain what can be done for starters.
Opinion: How to address pervasive violence against women in agriculture
+ Catch up on our coverage on gender equality and the push toward achieving SDG 5.
Africa CDC appointments
Longtime staffer Dr. Raji Tajudeen has been appointed as acting deputy director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this week our Sara Jerving reported that his predecessor, Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, would resign at the end of the month after he couldn’t reapply for the post due to country quota rules from the African Union. He’s Kenyan.
Tajudeen, who served as head of public health institutes and research at Africa CDC, has been with the pan-African public health agency since 2019. Before that, he served as head of the pediatric unit at the directorate of medical and health services at the African Union Commission since 2010. He’s Nigerian. Check out the other Africa CDC appointments in Sara’s story.
Read: Africa CDC announces spate of appointments in wake of deputy departure
ICYMI: Africa CDC deputy resigns after bar on applying for own job
+ Listen: The ongoing leadership changes at Africa CDC were one of the topics of discussion in the latest episode of our weekly podcast series, as Patrick Fine from Brookings joined Devex’s Raj Kumar and Rumbi Chakamba for a review of the top global development stories from this week.
Poly what?
Here’s another one of those wonderfully buzzy development terms – polycrisis philanthropy. And it is more or less what it sounds like, which is refreshing: giving money to ease multiple interwoven deadly crises.
The crises can be in completely different parts of the world and be quite distinct. Conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen, for example, have affected global trade, causing mass displacement and impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid. Climate change also has increased incidents of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and other disasters that have greatly impacted food and health systems.
In light of such unprecedented challenges, philanthropic funders created new, more holistic approaches. Devex Senior Reporter Stephanie Beasley provides the details.
Polycrisis philanthropy leaves behind the idea of isolated crises and single, siloed solutions. The goal is to create systemic change that includes prioritizing the needs of local communities on the front lines of overlapping crises, providing them with resources, and including them in decision-making.
It’s no longer about single solutions or plugging gaps left by governments and markets. Rather, it’s about acknowledging that the systems we rely on are potentially broken and that “we really need to think about the entire model, including the economic models, which are, of course, having consequences on everything including environmental issues, social issues, geopolitical issues” says Benjamin Bellegy, executive director of Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support, a network of philanthropic groups.
Read: What is polycrisis philanthropy? (Pro)
+ Access this article and all our exclusive reporting, analyses, data-driven funding insights, and invite-only events by starting your 15-day free trial of a Devex Pro membership today.
In other news
Over 230 million women and girls globally have undergone female genital cutting, marking a 30 million increase since UNICEF's 2016 estimate, according to the U.N. agency's latest analysis. [The New York Times]
France warned that the world's construction sector isn't on course to decarbonize by 2050 as it partners with the U.N. to host the first conference targeting the industry’s climate impact. [France 24]
Médecins Sans Frontières was forced to halt medical aid for migrants crossing the Darién Gap after the Panamanian government cited the absence of a valid agreement with the nation's health ministry. [Bloomberg]
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
