A Conversation with Martha Chen

Friday, September 30, 2016
Speaker
Martha Chen

Cofounder and International Coordinator, Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO); Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Presider
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Women and Foreign Policy Program

Martha Chen addresses the overrepresentation of women in the informal economy and the challenges they face – including low earnings and lack of social protections, which reinforce the cycle of poverty. She also discusses the resources women need to overcome these challenges and the strategic imperative for more inclusive and equitable policy.

Explore More on Economics

Human Rights

Marriage Equality: Global Comparisons
A growing number of countries are legalizing same-sex marriage amid a steady advance in rights for LGBTQ+ people, but opposition remains strong in many others.

Backgrounder by CFR.org Editors December 22, 2022

Haiti

Haiti’s Troubled Path to Development
Hobbled by foreign interventions, political instability, and natural disasters, the former French colony has long suffered from underdevelopment.

Backgrounder by Rocio Cara Labrador and Diana Roy September 9, 2022

United Nations

The Role of the UN General Assembly
The UN General Assembly hosts a much-watched debate of world leaders each year but has struggled to make its work more substantive.

Backgrounder by CFR.org Editors September 7, 2022

Top Stories on CFR

United States

Out of the Debt Ceiling Fire, But Still in the Frying Pan
Now that Congress voted to pass a bill based on the Biden-McCarthy compromise, an immediate debt ceiling crisis appears to have been averted. Still, a much larger debt problem awaits.  

Blog Post by Christopher M. Tuttle June 2, 2023 Renewing America

Supply Chains

Down and Dirty: The Global Fertilizer Dilemma

Podcast
Feeding the world's eight billion people has never been easy. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked the market for fertilizer, that task has gotten even harder. The fertilizer crisis threatens to exacerbate food insecurity worldwide, especially in low-income countries already reeling from record-high inflation and rapidly depreciating currencies. What is fertilizer’s role in the food supply chain?

Podcast with Gabrielle Sierra, Michelle Gavin and Laura Cross May 25, 2023 Why It Matters

Middle East and North Africa

Turkey’s Growing Foreign Policy Ambitions
Turkey’s geography and membership in NATO have long given the country an influential voice in foreign policy, but the assertive policies of President Erdogan have complicated its role.

Backgrounder by Kali Robinson June 1, 2023