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Connecting Women to Change the World
Women’s Empowerment that Really Empowers
“Empowerment”.
It’s a word that gets tossed around quite a bit – lot of the time by yours truly. Sometimes we can use a word so frequently or across such a great spectrum of applications that it loses the impact of it’s meaning.
So what does empowerment actually look like in actual practice? How do we move from it being a buzz word we throw around to garner support for our cause and begin to affect real tangible change in the lives of women everywhere?
There are common challenges that stand in the way of women’s empowerment on every part of the earth that humans exist. Things like patriarchy, the pay gap, bias in medicine, misogyny, sexism – the list goes on and on. With massive hurdles in the way of women’s progress what can be done?
The Gates Foundation recently released their 2022 Goalkeepers Report and of particular interest to our work, we were drawn to their essay on Gender Equality. Three things stand out as you read it:
Number one: Empowerment happens when women have direct access financial tools and systems.
In many low and middle income countries, large numbers of women do not have their own bank account. During the pandemic, when governments were sending payments directly to their citizens as a form of relief, many women were overlooked for government assistance because they had no way to receive it. Access to digital banking tools can put funds directly into the hands of women.
Statistics show us that women-led households use their funds in greater measure to benefit their children and their entire communities than men-lead households. When women rise, they take others with them. By putting funds directly into the hands of women, we are practically lifting entire communities out of poverty.
Number two: Empowerment happens when there is a focus on caregiving infrastructure and support.
In nearly all cultures, women are primarily responsible for childcare, elder care, and home care. Yet the vast majority do it unpaid. This is a vital responsibility that continues to go undervalued.
When women are left to be sole caretakers with little to no outside support, they are unable to enter the paid workforce. We’ve already established that putting money directly into the hands of women can change entire communities. What happens when women are unable to earn an income?
Now imagine if every stay-at-home mother, homemaker, or woman caring for an ailing relative were paid fair market value for the services she’s already providing. How drastically would her life, her family’s lives, and the lives of those in her community change?
Number three: Empowerment happens when women are in positions of decision making power and agency.
Women will never truly be “empowered” until they are allowed to wield that power. This means making decisions at all levels – from living rooms to boardrooms to government offices. Empowerment becomes {in-power}ment in it’s truest sense. The crux of the Gender Equality Report really comes down to this:
“True equality depends not only on a woman’s ability to access a livelihood, but also on her ability to control it fully. It means not just putting food on a kitchen table, but also being able to make decisions for her family around that table. It means not just benefiting from a government policy, but designing those policies. It means not just empowerment, but real, lived power.”
At The Constellation Coalition, we are all about empowering women. The main way we do this is through entrepreneurial development. Giving women knowledge and access to opportunities that they can then use to make their lives whatever they want. We want to see women everywhere IN POWER – of their lives, their families, their communities, their cultures.
When we empower women, we change the world.
The Constellation Coalition | PO Box 200, Kings Mills, OH 45034
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Connecting Women to Change the World
The Constellation Coalition Podcast
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The Constellation Coalition | PO Box 200, Kings Mills, OH 45034