Women empowerment is about giving women the tools they need to take control of their lives. This can include access to education, economic opportunities, and legal reforms.
It’s also about promoting gender equality and supporting female-owned businesses. Gender equality is important to every area of our society. Here are some ways you can help.
Be a Mentor
Women often lack the support and guidance that can be found in mentoring relationships. Mentorship is an important tool for professional empowerment and can help women overcome obstacles, break through glass ceilings, and challenge biases.
Women’s mentors can provide valuable insight based on their own experiences with career advancement, networking, and leadership. They can also offer coping strategies for women juggling work and family commitments.
Mentors can assist mentees in achieving career goals by endorsing them for promotions and suggesting projects. In addition, mentors can guide mentees through educational endeavors by helping them navigate scholarships and grants.
Many women who have smashed ceilings in their careers are willing to mentor other women, making this an effective way to empower women. If your organization does not have a formal mentoring program, consider starting one to encourage a diverse workforce and inclusive culture. Incorporate mentoring into your company’s culture with workshops and lunch-and-learn sessions that focus on gender equality and empowering women in leadership roles.
Support Your Community
Women’s empowerment isn’t just about a single person or family; it’s about a whole community. Supporting your local area’s women is a great way to contribute to gender equality worldwide. Here are some ways you can do that:
Encourage the girls and women around you to be their authentic selves. Whether they love to dress up in princess outfits or prefer loafers for girls, celebrate their individuality. This will help them feel empowered and confident, so that when they face bigger injustices, speaking up won’t seem so scary.
You can also be a part of the solution by supporting nonprofit organizations that focus on empowering women and girls. By donating your time, money or gently used items, you can make a difference in their lives. Additionally, you can choose to shop with businesses that commit to empowering women with their business practices. For example, the Women’s Empowerment Principles are a global standard that businesses can sign up for to promote positive social norm change.
Invest in Women-Owned Businesses
Women-led companies are often more socially conscious than their male counterparts, meaning investing in them can help to make the world a better place. You can set aside a portion of your portfolio to invest in women-focused companies like Veracyte, which is creating a genomic diagnostic tool to detect cancer and other diseases, or iFundWomen, which provides funding for female entrepreneurs through a pay-it-forward model. You can also become a microloan lender through sites like Grameen America to provide women with the financial resources they need to start their own businesses.
You can also invest in women-focused ESG (environmental, social and governance) funds. Morningstar reports that these are a way to support causes you care about while working toward your financial goals. Some examples include Mergelane, which focuses on startups with a minimum of one woman leader and Laconia Capital, which has an emphasis on diversity. A financial professional can be instrumental in helping you select an ESG fund that meets your needs and budget.
Take a Stand Against Negative Comments
Women empowerment is a global movement that has made major strides in recent decades, but there is still work to be done. Taking a stand against negative comments about women is one way you can help lift up your fellow females.
Promoting women’s empowerment and rights is critical to creating inclusive societies that give everyone a chance to thrive. This includes tackling deeply rooted stereotypes, advancing gender equality in the workplace and society, and promoting social norms change that can reduce discrimination and violence against women.
Educating women is another important aspect of empowering women, as it gives them the tools they need to take control of their lives and make decisions that are best for themselves and their families. Education also helps to improve health outcomes, as well as providing access to resources such as financial support and childcare services. In addition, enabling women to acquire property inheritance and land rights increases their economic empowerment by giving them better means of asset accumulation and establishing formal financial institutions.