Monthly Corner
Laura Hughston - Blog
Arnoux Mouafo Nopi & Dimitri Tsona Zapzi - Article
Prof. Wangari Mwai and Prof. Catherine Ndungo - BOOK
- Understanding Gender and Identity Through The Gender Dictionary
Publisher: Bleeding Ink Scribes
RAI SENGUPTA - gender-transformative evaluation tools
This synthesis draws on evidence from 17 humanitarian evaluations across diverse crisis settings. It identifies key feminist evaluation innovations across four domains - design, methods, analysis, and ethics - illustrating how feminist principles can be embedded throughout the evaluation process. It also surfaces broader shifts required at policy, institutional, and practice levels to realise the transformative potential of feminist approaches in humanitarian contexts.
The toolkit translates these insights into applied guidance for evaluators and organisations. It provides step-by-step support across the full evaluation cycle, including planning, design, methods, analysis, ethics, and dissemination. Drawing on global feminist evaluation practice, humanitarian guidance, and gender evaluation standards, it includes adaptable tools, participatory and arts-based methods, guiding questions, and templates for field application.
Ritu Dewan & Swat Raju - Article
-
In Promises & Reality 2026 Citizen’s Review of Year 2 of the NDA-III Government. Coordinated by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, June 20, 2026. pp 94-100.
UTTHAN - Research Report
Traversing the path with women farmers in their fields and in our reflections/writings, a stark observation was the sheer lack of localized and regional vocabulary and terminology to adequately capture and communicate the understanding of climate change and mitigation strategies, informed by the unique experiences and needs of small and marginal women farmers. This is what propelled our research - to examine how women farmers perceive, express, experience, and respond to climate variability across
Our Research Report centres the lived experiences, generational knowledge, and resilience strategies of small and marginal women farmers from the coastal (Bhavnagar) and hilly (Dahod & Panchmahal) regions i.e two contrasting agro-climatic zones of Gujarat. Through their voices, the study reveals exactly how climate change intersects with gender, land rights, labour burdens, and food security.
Events
Vacancies
About the job
At Includovate, we are expanding our Pacific Research & Evaluation Talent Pool and inviting researchers, evaluators, consultants, and development practitioners to join a growing network of professionals committed to creating meaningful social impact.
As a feminist research incubator and certified social enterprise, Includovate works with partners including UNICEF, UNFPA, the ILO, governments, and development organisations across 23+ countries. Our work spans gender equality, social inclusion, health, disability, youth, climate, WASH, market systems, and other development priorities.
We are particularly keen to connect with experts from:
📍 Papua New Guinea
📍 Solomon Islands
📍 Vanuatu
📍 Timor-Leste
📍 Fiji
📍 Samoa
📍 Tonga
📍 Indonesia
📍 Australia
and across the wider Pacific region.
We welcome expertise in:
✓ Research, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
✓ Gender Equality & Social Inclusion
✓ Health & SRHR
✓ Disability Inclusion
✓ Youth Development
✓ Climate & Environment
✓ WASH
✓ Market Systems Development
✓ Governance & Community Development
Whether your expertise lies in data collection, research, evaluation, technical advisory, facilitation, or team leadership, we would love to hear from you.
By joining our Talent Pool, you become part of a trusted network of professionals who may be considered for future research, evaluation, advisory, and consulting opportunities across the Pacific region and beyond.
🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eyF66S7H
Women, the invisible workforce...time for recognition
Covid 19 pandemic lockdown has brought to fore the invisible workforce-the women of the household, and their contribution in the country’s economy. If not directly but definitely indirectly, by taking care of homes of their men family members, whom generally every country count as their main workforce. Thus neglecting the role played by a woman in the country’s growth and development, as a professional as well as home-maker.
Globally, socio cultural norms and practices determine the role of women in both public and private spheres. Although vulnerability affects everyone but particularly women more, who face risks due to lesser employment opportunities, natural and man-made calamities, and invisible workforce? Moreover, women’s unequal share of unpaid work is considered as a major constraint to both economic growth and women’s empowerment.
Unfortunately, for decades, her contribution has discrimination on grounds of gender and social groups and place of work, outside home or at home. It is a known fact that women spend her substantial time in unpaid domestic work. Unpaid domestic work refers to non-market unpaid work carried out in households primarily by women which include both direct care of family members and indirect care such as cooking, cleaning fetching water and woods for fuel among others. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, in India women spend around six hours per day in unpaid household chores and related activities. Noticeably, even across developed countries, the hours put by women in the household work, though in varying proportion, is more than men (see graph).
Globally, women carry out 76 percent of the total amount of unpaid work. This work activity goes unaccounted for in the national accounts system. Women remains largely remained invisible due to the low or no economic value attached to her contribution in undertaking very important and critical household chores. As per the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women typically invest 90 percent of the economic resources into health, nutrition, and family education. Thus, keeping her financial independence at stake. In spite of, several measures been taken by the government and non- government agencies across the countries, particularly in developing economies, towards providing financial benefits to women and their financial inclusion, the situation continues to be far from satisfactory.
Women’s economic choices get jeopardized due to their minimal access to household finance including availing financial services and decision making in financial matters. Women’s unpaid domestic work affects considerably GDP of the country. No doubt, there is dire need for increasing women’s access to use of quality financial products and services which is essential for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction apart from social and economic empowerment. Access to financial services and decision making process is seen as a stepping stone towards women recognition as an ‘economically relevant’ workforce and empowerment. Non-inclusion of unpaid work in national accounts system or active participation in financial decision making at home continues to remain evaded from women.
It has further repercussion. Lack of financial inclusion is also one of the key reasons for gender inequality. For women, financial dependence and low or no control over financial resources has affected, to a large extent, their bargaining power at home and influence over family decisions. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the economic opportunities for women are extremely limited. On average, only 55% of adult women are in the labour market, versus 78% of men. In Indian context, only one-quarter of women, compared with 82 per cent of men, engage actively in the labour market — one of the lowest rates globally (145th). Among the 153 countries studied for this WEF’s report, India is the only country where the economic gender gap is larger than the political gender gap.
Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown across several countries must have made men policy makers, who are in most of the prominent positions of key policy making think-tanks to assess the contribution of women in invisible work at home and yet keeping her occupied for entire day. In fact for working women, the lockdown has come as a double blow. Besides taking care of house chores, she has also to do her professional duty of Work from Home (WfH). On a positive note, in Indian context, the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) decision to estimate the value of unpaid work, especially household chores by women, is, perhaps, the first step in registering the country’s unpaid labour. A report was expected by mid-2020 but not sure with Covid19 pandemic engulfing the country and shift in the priorities, this report could be expected at the given time. The unavoidable delay will further hamper the dire need to implement women targeted policies and to analyze and take action on shifts in labour participation rates.
Outside home too the emergence of women entrepreneurs or workers in a society depends to a great extent on the economic, social, religious, cultural and psychological factors prevailing in the society. This is well indicated by the facts that women constitute 48 per cent of the total population in India, but form 34 per cent total work force, 11 per cent of total entrepreneurs and around 6 per cent of total self-employed in the country. But in developed countries like United States women own nearly 30 per cent of businesses and form over 70 per cent of new businesses.
Across countries, it is therefore right time to take a giant step, and go for women-sensitive transformative policy and programs along with change in society’s outlook towards women workforce as equal partners in development. This is the only way to empower women and all-round growth of a country. Around 45 days or more stay at home during lockdown will definitely make most men agree with the contribution of women in helping the male members focus on their economic activity, either at work place or while working from home. Therefore, post Covid pandemic, when countries’ economy will have to be revived almost from the bottom, the revival policies and programmes should be made more women-friendly and focus upon the economic empowerment of women. It is time to acknowledge and reward women at home, who are putting hours of hard work to ensure their families well being, and are playing a key role, even if indirectly, in putting the country’s economy on track.
Originally posted here
https://medium.com/@cms.alok/women-the-invisible-workforce-time-for...
Add a Comment
© 2026 Created by Rituu B Nanda.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Gender and Evaluation to add comments!
Join Gender and Evaluation