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Economy>Concerning
Latin America | Venezuela | Economy

In Venezuela, women sell hair as another way to get by

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Valery Díaz covered her eyes and held her breath before looking in a hair salon mirror to see herself without much of the long dark hair that used to frame her face. The 16-year-old student was paid $100 for the shorn hair, money she'll use to help her family and buy a cellphone at a time when Venezuela's sharp economic decline has led to shortages of food and medicine, and hyperinflation has made salaries nearly worthless. Increasing numbers of women in poor neighborhoods are selling their hair for use in wigs and extensions as the demands of daily survival force them t
South Asia | India | Economy

Women account for only 8% of entrepreneurs: Delhi Economic Census

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Women account for only 8% of entrepreneurs in Delhi, while 91% of total establishments work under private proprietorship, according to the economic census of Delhi. The census report released by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday was conducted by the Directorate of Economics & Statistics in collaboration with the Central Statistics Office during February and June 2013. The last economic census of Delhi was released in 2005. The Sixth Economic Census includes all types of entrepreneurial activities in the field of agriculture (except crop production and plantation) as well
South Asia | Burma | Economy

On the road with the women building Myanmar

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In the mountain village of Kalaw, Myanmar, women in bamboo hats are busy laying the foundations of a road. They woke at dawn, ate mohinga fish soup for breakfast and then joined other female colleagues in the boiling sun. Surrounded by red soil and gravel, the five-month baby of 21-year-old Cho Mi Ko is also on the roadside. He is sleeping under a makeshift shelter, oblivious to his mother’s hard labour. The sight of women building roads is common in Myanmar. From the rural areas of Rakhine state to touristic Bagan, fuming tarmac and piles of debris are mostly handled by female workers, w
Africa | Ghana | Business

Ghana’s market women were once so powerful they were targeted by the military

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There are corporate-feeling malls and glossy supermarkets popping up all over the West African country. Still, more than 90 percent of people here still do their almost all their shopping at open-air markets, where the stalls are dominated by women, each running a small business. It’s an encouraging trend, but behind this bright statistic is a dark history: during Ghana’s military coups of the 1970s and 1980s, market women became the target of government terror, blamed for an economic crisis gripping the country. To understand why that could have happened, you have to first see the marke
International | Corruption

Tapie Affair: IMF head Christine Lagarde ordered to face trial by French court over tycoon payments

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A French court has ordered IMF boss Christine Lagarde to face trial over the part she played in the Tapie Affair, regarding a €400m (£291m, $433m) transfer to French business tycoon and entrepreneur Bernard Tapie. In September, France's main prosecutor recommended magistrates at the Cour de Justice de la Republique, which deals with crime allegations against government officials, drop the investigation. The magistrates were probing Lagarde's alleged negligence in regards to the affair when she was finance minister of the country. In 2008, when Lagarde served under Nicolas Sarkozy'sgov
Asia | Japan | Economy

‘Womenomics’ Makes Small Chips in Japan’s Glass Ceiling

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Two years after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made women's advancement a top policy priority, statistics suggest Japan's male-dominated workplaces have evolved slightly, but they also highlight the deep-seated societal forces keeping the gender gap alive. The central government exceeded its 30 percent target for hiring of women for career-track positions, raising the rate to 34 percent this year from 24 percent last year, according to the latest Cabinet Office data. In the private sector, women make up a slightly higher percentage of managers and presidents than they did two years ago, though m
Latin America | Chile | Economy

Damage control in Chile

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Chile has been badly hit by the end of the commodities boom. But it has also gone further than most of its neighbours in adjusting to a harsher world. The peso has depreciated by around 45% since January 2013, helping to extinguish a big current-account deficit. Low debt and years of macroeconomic rigour mean the government has been able to run an expansionary fiscal policy while the Central Bank’s interest rate, despite an increase this month, is negative in real terms. For that, supporters of Michelle Bachelet, the Socialist president, blame the outside world. The price of copper, Chile
North America | United States | Economy

Yellen, consensus-builder, needs to send strong signal at Fed meet

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Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, praised as an adept listener and consensus builder, may need to adopt a stronger tone at this week's policy meeting if she expects to keep a December interest rate rise in play. Yellen's inclusive style has been tested recently by two fellow governors who publicly appeared to disagree with her view, shared by Vice Chair Stanley Fischer, that the Fed will probably need to raise interest rates this year. Governors are permanent members of the Fed's policy-making panel who typically vote with the chair, and it is unusual for them to publicly contradict th
South Asia | India | Economy

Chhattisgarh textbook blames working women for unemployment in India!

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Atrocious! In the day and age where women are walking with men shoulder to shoulder, a textbook blaming women for unemployment is terrible! According to the textbook, women have begun working which has led to a drop in employment leading many men to remain unemployed. The textbook also adds that since independence, the level of unemployment in the country has drastically increased as women have begun to step out of their houses and work. The passage, which appears in a 10th standard Hindi textbook is appalling and left the teachers fuming. It was a young 24-year olf teacher who identified t
North America | United States | Economy

Fed Chair Yellen had a health scare during a speech, but she’s feeling fine now

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Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen gave a scare Thursday while giving a speech on monetary policy and inflation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Near the end of her prepared remarks, Yellen appeared to be experiencing some physical discomfort. She paused several times to cough before saying she would stop. "[I]f the economy surprises us, our judgments about appropriate monetary policy will change," she said. "Let me stop there. Thank you."
North America | United States | Economy

Record 56,209,000 Women Not in Labor Force

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The number of women not in the labor force reached a record high in July, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the BLS, 56,209,000 women aged 16 and older were not participating in the workforce in July, besting April’s record of 56,167,000 women who were neither employed nor had made a specific effort to find work in the four weeks prior. July’s figures represented an uptick of 124,000 over June’s level of 56,085,000 women who were out of the workforce. The civilian labor force also shrank for women last month from 73,547,000 in Jun
South Asia | Australia | Economy

The pay gap costs women $700,000, and it starts as soon as you graduate

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Gillard addressed a large room of influential men and women at the launch of the ANZ discussion paper on Wednesday. Supporting her later on a panel to discuss the issues raised were former LT David Morrison, ANZ CEO Mike Smith, former tennis player Martina Navratilova, and later ANZ chairman David Gonski. The ANZ paper revealed a number of disturbing findings on pay, including that while women's workforce participation has risen by more than 25% in 30 years, female full-time workers are being paid 18.8% less than men, amounting to $295 a week, $15,000 a year and around $700,000 over a woman
South Asia | Australia | Business

Is this the week we finally accept Australia has a “women problem”?

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This week gender equality has enjoyed some decent airtime on the national agenda. On Sunday the Labor party announced it would seek to achieve 50% representation for female MPs by 2025. On Monday Christopher Pyne called for the Liberal party to make it easier for women to enter politics. On Tuesday NEEOPA and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency hosted an event about pay equity at Channel 10. Liberal MP Dr Sharman Stone spoke out strongly about the need for action from the coalition and that night Lateline interviewed Kelly O’Dwyer and Kate Ellis on the issue of boosting the number
Europe | Great Britain | Career

Maternity leave discrimination means 54,000 women lose their jobs each year

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Women returning from maternity leave are more likely to face discrimination in the workplace than they were a decade ago, according to a report published today by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The study by the EHRC estimates that around 54,000 new mothers are losing their jobs across Britain every year – almost twice the number identified in similar research undertaken in 2005. It also found that 10% of women were discouraged from attending antenatal appointments by their employers, putting the health of mother and baby at risk. Caroline Waters, deputy chair of the EHRC,

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