In honor of International Women’s Day, CIPE is highlighting innovative new programs by global partners to support economic empowerment for women. CIPE recently hosted a panel discussion that focused on top current challenges and what is needed to catalyze changes. Watch “How the Power of Economic Opportunity for Women Transforms Society” hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Sharyl Attkisson.
When women have greater economic opportunities and better access to financial resources, they become more self-sufficient and empowered to become leaders in the business community, politics, and society overall. Global research confirms that investment in economic programs for women and support for female entrepreneurship initiatives contribute to gender equality, poverty eradication, and sustainable democratic development. Top current challenges to women’s economic empowerment include: access to capital, restrictive labor laws, domestic and workplace violence, limited property rights, and family pressures. More innovative approaches, partnerships, programs, and policies are needed to foster additional progress or catalyze change.
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and its Center for Women’s Economic Empowerment hosted a panel discussion on Tuesday, December 5th at the National Press Club to address the toughest obstacles, interpret key trends, and spotlight innovative programs that are giving women more of a voice in the decision-making process and thus transforming communities and societies around the world.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Emmy Award-winning journalist and best-selling author Sharyl Attkisson, host of the syndicated investigative news program Full Measure. Among the featured speakers: Jennifer Windsor, Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Senior Director for Gender and Social Inclusion, Karen Kerrigan, CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council and member of CIPE’s Board of Directors, Sarah Yun, CIPE’s Program Officer for Asia & the Pacific and a leader on women’s programming in the region, as well as Chase Ballinger, Economic Policy Advisor Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State.
Watch the video below: