Media
06 April 2016
In the quarter-century since the publication in 1990 of the first Human Development Report, the world has made astounding strides in reducing poverty and improving the health, education, and living conditions of hundreds of millions of people. And yet, as impressive as these gains may be, they have not been distributed equally. Both between...
05 April 2016
The Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development have drawn attention to the world’s 20 million recyclers. Given the international nature of these platforms, this attention will likely lead to local and national policies to bring them dignified living conditions and decent work for them, as well as recognition...
18 March 2016
Sunday marks the United Nations’ 5th International Day of Happiness. Few people are against the pursuit of happiness, but many argue that governments – and international organisations for that matter – have no business in setting happiness as a public policy goal. And yet leaders around the world, from France to Japan, Italy to Qatar, are...
18 March 2016
The global record on gender equality remains mixed with progress on many fronts, but gaps remaining in others. The 2015 Human Development Report ‘Work for Human Development’, twenty years after the issue was first addressed in 1995 Human Development Report, testifies to this fact.
Progress has been made on many important counts (e.g. on primary...
17 March 2016
Paid parental leave is one of the most important benefits of flexibility extended to working parents, especially when mandatory paternity leave policies are implemented. The correct mix of policies can help ensure high rates of female labour force participation and motivated, satisfied workers with a good work–life balance.
Paid maternity leave...
15 March 2016
The Human Development Report, 2015 highlights a contradiction: it is care work mostly undertaken by women - that makes possible much of the paid work that drives the market economy. Care work is also essential for advancing human capabilities yet, because it tends to be unpaid, it is undervalued and often taken for granted.
Estimating the market...
08 March 2016
Just like women’s invisible work in the household, women’s work in community building and conflict resolution, which has significant human development implications, often goes unacknowledged.
Women’s peace-making efforts are not a strange phenomenon; they have been happening since the outbreak of violence and wars at the end of the cold war. From...