Gender Equality and Dignified Jobs

Dignified work gives women agency and voice

Nearly half of the jobholders at Upaya’s portfolio partners are women. Many are mothers or caregivers.

Some, like Jamuna, are building independent lives for themselves and their children after leaving abusive or exploitative circumstances.

Tamul Plates jobholder carrying bamboo leaves

Gender equality in the workforce will not happen on its own

We need more women in the workforce. In India, women’s participation in the formal labor force is a mere 19%, lower than most neighboring countries, and in 2021, 85% of venture capital went to all-male founding teams.

Women are too often shut out of the formal economy and forced to rely on other household members or unpredictable piecework to earn an income, or work as invisible workers in exploitative or dangerous industries.

Women can invest in others. While the burden of extreme poverty falls more heavily on women, research has shown again and again that when women earn an income, they are more likely to invest in their families, lifting up more than just themselves. They send children to school, they buy nutritious food, and they repair dilapidated housing — all reversing the vicious cycle of extreme poverty to create one of upward mobility.

Our portfolio partners help women in extreme poverty take control of their futures

Dhanana

Tamul Plates

Shamli

Lal10

Nugu Handmade

Nagamma

We’ve built a gender-balanced portfolio

Upaya is 2X Global compliant

“Two particular strategies stand out — the organization’s focus on leading with sustainable, dignified jobs as a core part of their impact thesis, and their innovative funding approach centered on recoverable grants.”