Although women are entering the workplace in increasing numbers, they are often not paid enough to survive on. Consistently they earn less than men, most work part-time, and they have less secure conditions of employment. They have access to fewer assets and find it difficult both to save and to get credit because of the way rules for borrowing are set up. Governments do not count or value the unpaid work they do, and state welfare services on which they rely have been cut. Many women do not dare to step out of the house because of the violence they face if they do.
Few women make the rules or take decisions in government or in the marketplace.
We believe that achieving a sustainable livelihood depends on creating a mix of assets, according to place and time, to give poor people power over markets. Oxfam will press for the effective development and regulation of markets at local, national, and global levels, to create equal opportunities for poor women and men, and to enable them to compete in markets on a fair basis. It will lobby for recognition of the true economic and social value of household, care, and community work. And it will encourage producers and consumers to develop coalitions to achieve a more just and gender-equitable global economy. About Oxfam .