Can promises on gender equality made in Australia help a 16-year-old Indian cigarette maker with no toilet? (opens in new tab)

The Melbourne declaration aims to direct funding and power to those most overlooked and affected by injustice. But for many its promise is a distant oneI first spoke to Shazia Khanum for a report I was writing on adolescent girls in informal jobs. The 16-year-old’s fingers moved swiftly as she talked, rolling bidis – tobacco in tendu leaves tied with string. She told me she rolls about 300 to 500 thin cigarettes daily, earning a little more than £1 on a good day (roughly 250 rupees for 1,000 ...