BUILDING EFFECTIVE WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT STRATEGIES

A growing number of companies understand that advancing women is essential to business innovation, productivity, risk management, and market growth. This report draws on insights gathered from interviews with 10 multinational companies actively engaged in advancing women’s economic empowerment, as well as a comprehensive review of the latest literature and leading company practices and programs.

In the report, we aim to help companies build effective strategies for women’s economic empowerment by applying a holistic and integrated approach: “holistic” in considering the broader conditions necessary for women’s advancement and “integrated” in leveraging the full set of business assets a company can deploy. We focus on opportunities across four sectors—information and communications technology, healthcare, financial services, and consumer products. Many of the lessons are relevant across a range of industries and companies.

The report was written in partnership with BSR and sponsored by the Oak Foundation.