Female empowerment is a global issue that affects everyone. It’s important that companies align their brand with these initiatives both because of the business benefits and because it’s the right thing to do.
Women’s economic participation is essential to reducing poverty and improving education, health, and employment outcomes. Moreover, women tend to reinvest 90 percent of their earnings in their communities and households, helping expedite development and overcome societal poverty.
1. Economic Empowerment
Women’s meaningful economic participation is an essential driver of sustainable economic growth and stability worldwide. The United States has taken the lead in advancing this critical goal through the first-ever whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment, the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative.
While much progress toward poverty reduction focuses on increasing household incomes, it can be difficult for households to break out of the cycle of extreme vulnerability without also addressing costs. To help highlight this challenge, the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) developed a new measure we call the “empowerment line.”
It considers what people need to spend on a frugal but decent basket of goods and services—and excludes the cost of government support. The measure is based on the experiences of a wide range of countries. But even within two economies at similar GDP levels, costs and opportunities for economic empowerment can vary widely. The biggest drivers are the costs of housing, food, and transportation.
2. Social Empowerment
Social empowerment is a process that equips individuals or groups with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to take control of their lives. This approach looks to uplift marginalized communities and promote equality for all members of society.
This often involves raising awareness of social barriers that prevent people from reaching their full potential. This is a fundamental part of intersectionality theory, which explores the ways that multiple identities shape those barriers. It also requires building critical consciousness, so that people recognize the forces that impact their situations rather than blaming their problems on their own failures.
Social empowerment is a powerful tool, but it must be carefully applied and understood. This means that it must be sensitive to cultural contexts, working within those frameworks to support change rather than imposing an external template. Moreover, it must be gender-sensitive, which is a key part of feminist perspectives. In addition, it must address power dynamics and encourage self-sufficiency, so that individuals can avoid the need for future dependence on government or charity.
3. Health Empowerment
Health empowerment focuses on individuals’ intrinsic motivation and internal sense of control, as well as their ability to engage resources within a health context. Psychological theories such as psychological empowerment and the capability approach (originating in development economics) extend this concept by describing health agency as the internalized sense of self-efficacy, means, and resilience to address health-related challenges.
A theory driven intervention, health empowerment has been demonstrated to be associated with increased adherence to treatment plans and greater satisfaction with healthcare. It also enables individuals to participate knowingly in goal attainment, such as in decision making related to homebound older adults’ health and wellbeing. However, achieving these benefits is dependent on a number of factors including health literacy. For low health literacy groups, perceived informational benefits are more important than perceived decision-making benefits. Health empowerment is a complex process that occurs at multiple levels including individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal levels. A cross-sectoral influence on health empowerment is evident in urban planning and design, as evidenced by the direct relationship between green space and physical activity.
4. Education Empowerment
Education is an essential part of empowerment because it gives people the skills and knowledge they need to reach their goals and succeed in life. It also helps them to understand and address issues that affect their community.
When women have access to education, it allows them to imagine careers beyond traditional motherhood and house-based work. It also empowers them to make informed choices about their health, which can lead to better outcomes for themselves and their families.
A quality education can also provide students with a variety of learning opportunities, including extracurricular activities and internships. This can give them a taste of success and help them develop the confidence they need to take risks in their lives. It also enables them to become lifelong learners who can continue to grow and learn throughout their lives.