Four key ways to advance women and girl’s economic empowerment – Lessons from the 2015 International Women’s Day Forum
How can the private sector partner to bridge the gap to women’s empowerment? Last week, this question was explored at the 2015 annual International Women’s Day Forum, hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center, United Nations Office for Partnerships, and UN Women.
The Forum brought together corporate representatives, non-profit leaders, entrepreneurs, and non-governmental organizations to discuss opportunities to overcome barriers to women’s economic independence.
Across the range of panels and speakers, four main themes emerged around how to expand the role women can play in the global economy:
- Build trust – For an initiative to succeed, it is critical to first establish trust among participants. No matter how innovative and effective the program, women and girls will hesitate to seize a new opportunity if they do not have a certain level of trust in the program and its managers.
- Reflect the local culture –Cultural differences can change how women and girls approach opportunities in areas known to contribute to economic empowerment, such as education, technology, and quality health care. Organizations should take culture into account as they consider how to bring successful initiatives to scale across the globe.
- Tell more stories about women – Too often, women and girls do not have female role models to inspire them to succeed. We need to share more narratives that show women, especially those from minority or underprivileged groups, overcoming challenges and achieving success.
- Increase access to support networks – Professional networks are a valuable catalyst for business success, but many women do not pursue or have access to these opportunities. For example, the Forum highlighted the fact that setting up an advisory board is one of the most valuable first steps that an entrepreneur can take, yet women entrepreneurs are less likely to have one in place. Similarly, women and girls may be intimidated from pursuing networking opportunities in male-dominated industries or groups. We need to increase awareness of the benefits of support networks and create more female-friendly networks.
Neither the private nor the public sector alone can overcome the many obstacles that face the movement for women’s economic empowerment. As Joy Marini from Johnson & Johnson said at the Forum, we need unlikely marriages between the various change agents to achieve new economic independence for women and girls.