Working with women

More than 40 percent of the world's population—2.5 billion people—live in poverty, surviving on less than $2 a day. Our aim is to find lasting solutions to that poverty, and to the hunger and injustice that accompany it. But we can't begin to tackle those problems without considering the vast inequities that exist between women and men—the access each has to education, to resources, to political engagement.

Women, on every score, fall far behind.

No solution to poverty can endure without the full participation of women: They make up half the people on Earth.

To achieve that goal—to end poverty—we need to address discrimination and the uneven balance of power between men and women. At Oxfam, we support opportunities for women and girls to change the circumstances of their lives. We help them claim their rights, live free from violence, earn a decent income, get an education, become entrepreneurs, and make their voices heard. Guiding us is our belief in basic human rights, which includes the conviction that women—like men—have the capability to make a profound difference in the lives of their families, their communities, and their nations.