Category Archives: Global

Investing in Women & Girls

The Evidence Is In!

Investing in women and girls is the way forward for gender equality, economic growth, and a better world for all.

Lifetime Member Jacki Zehner has been on a mission to “make the case” for investing in women and girls.

This past International Women’s Day, that dream came true with the publication of Top Reports on Women and Girls: Supporting Gender Lens Giving and Investing.

This document lists the top reports on women and girls across 18 different categories:

  • Agriculture, Climate & Land Rights
  • Arts, Entertainment, Film & Media
  • Business Case for Women, Corporate Boards, Diversity & Inclusion
  • Economic Growth, Development, Employment & Equality
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Girls
  • Giving to Women and Girls & Gender Lens Philanthropy
  • Health & Reproductive Issues
  • Impact Investing
  • Impact Investing with a Gender Lens
  • Peace, Conflict, Refugees & Migration
  • Philanthropy
  • Political Representation
  • Science & Technology
  • Sports
  • Violence Against Women & Trafficking
  • Wealth & Economic Clout
  • Masculinity & Engaging Men in Gender Equality

Altogether, this publication brings together 400 reports, studies, and research on women and girls, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg!

Check out the Top Reports on Women & Girls now and check out Jacki’s thoughts here.

Giving Circles: What Makes Them Powerful

Published in Nonprofit Quarterly, this article by Rob Meiksins highlights coverage from the New York Times on giving circles:

“…with thousands of people coming together in small groups around the country, pooling their financial resources and giving of their time and talent to have a positive impact on their local communities, there is a real power being built quietly.”

Read the Nonprofit Quarterly article here.

Our members may be interested to learn a bit about other the women’s giving circles highlighted in the New York Times article, including Impact100 Philadelphia, a collective of more than 200, and Women for Social Innovation, who award an annual $15,000 prize that comes with mentorship.

Read the New York Times article here.

How the Meritocracy Myth Affects Women in Technology

From Utah Public Radio, author Elise Hu sheds light on the disparity of women in science and technology. Females account for just 6% of the CEOs of top tech companies and only 8% of all venture-backed startup founders.

Some have suggested that Silicon Valley is a meritocracy, where the best and the brightest rise to the top, regardless of gender, race, wealth, or background. In fact, startup founders typically come from a very specific caste: white males from Stanford, Harvard or MIT.

“If the people solving tech problems are mainly white, male and privileged, then what problems aren’t they solving? Should one of the most influential forces of the global economy be driven by only the perspectives of a certain slice of our population?”

Read the full article here.

USA Today: Olympics Lacks Parity for Female Athletes

This article from Maura Grogan, a former Olympic competitor, highlights the distance we’ve come since the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924, and how much further we need to go:

“While the Sochi Games offer the most opportunities for women of any Winter Olympics yet, there still is not parity: 14 of 15 sports include competition for women; Nordic combined, in which athletes compete in both cross-country skiing and ski jumping, remains the only holdout. Of the 93 individual events in Sochi, 43 are for women while 50 are for men.”

Read the full article here.