Women's Economic Power
Advancing Women in All Aspects of Business
Women spend considerably more of their incremental income on their households than men do. When women earn more, they have more to invest in their families’ education, nutrition, home improvement, and general welfare, with ripple effects that extend beyond their immediate families — lifting the living standards and well-being of entire communities.
Social entrepreneurship offers some of the most compelling hope for advancing women’s economic power — as founders and leaders, customers, employees, and value chain contributors.
Defining Women's Economic Power
Miller Center supports social enterprises that are advancing Women’s Economic Power by intentionally investing in women in one or more of the following ways:
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- Social Enterprise Leaders: The primary participant identifies as female and is a founder, CEO, or other top-level leader with decision-making authority.
- Employees: The business model intentionally creates more jobs for women within the enterprise.
- Value Chain Contributors: The organization creates increasing business opportunities for women along its value chain (e.g., using a village sales agent model that is more amenable to women villagers’ lifestyle or buying products made by women).
- Customers: Predominantly female customers by design. In this case, “customers” refers to those who are positively impacted by the enterprise.