By: Blacktiemagazine/Alejandra Ruiz-Dana
 

More than 300 participants attended last Friday's International Women's Day Forum held at the Ford Foundation.  The event, hosted by the U.S. Chamber Business Civic Leadership Center and the United Nations Office for Partnership, brought together leaders of both the private and nonprofit sectors to discuss obstacles and opportunities for increased women's participation
 in economic activity.

The roster of speakers included Alyse Nelson, Chief Executive Officer of Vital Voices, whose morning keynote emphasized the role women play in bringing about change in their communities, and the need to recognize and guide that contribution.  Ms. Nelson observed that providing such support and recognition is bound to cause a ripple effect, as women who are empowered are more likely to share lessons and resources.

Ms. Nelson's candid presentation was followed by a panel discussion on the effect that the global skill gap is having on women's ability to make significant economic contributions.  The panelists agreed that a major impediment is the lack of access to tools and resources, as well as awareness that such support exists.  While the number of workforce development programs have increased, the panelists noted that the effectiveness of such programs relies heavily upon strong partnerships and  outreach efforts. The discussion was led by Renee Kuriyan Wittemyer of Intel Corporation and it featured Marga C. Fripp, Founder and Chief Visionary of Empowered Women International; Anna Maria Chávez, Chief Executive Officer of Girls Scouts; and Carolyn Berkowitz, Managing Vice President of Community Affairs at CapitalOne

With its soaring ceilings and tree-filled atrium, The Ford Foundation’s
E. 43^rdStreet headquarters in New York City was the perfect setting for this year’s International Woman’s Day Forum.  In the 1960’s, the building set the precedent for indoor public spaces in Manhattan, with the architects aiming to restore the social function of modernism. Modernism was also a key focus of the forum--not in its tactile expression in stone and steel, but rather in the slow, but steady modernization of emerging countries, facilitated by the scaling and transformation of women’s traditional roles in local and global economies.

The tone of the day was perfectly captured during a lunchtime screening of 10x10’s trailer for the film, Girl Rising.  10x10 is a global campaign with a mission to deliver a simple truth: “Educate a girl and you will change the world.”  Girl Rising, funded by founding strategic partner Intel Corporation, tells the stories of nine girls struggling against all odds to live lives beyond those circumscribed by their traditional cultures.  In hearing these stories, the viewer feels nudged awake, as if from a long slumber, to the exciting realization that dreams do come true:  Girls around the world are rising, seemingly like the eruption of wild flowers during the dry season in Wadley’s Haiti--Wadley being one of the girls showcased in the film—as nature has prescribed and without the nourishment of a supporting social structure.  The viewer is left with the impression that the rise of women is inevitable and is meant to happen now, at this particular juncture in human history, for a reason that has been preordained.

And while the film documents the rise of women and girls in developing countries, the conference revealed a complementary story:  Highly educated and talented women of the developed world feel compelled to leverage their passion, energy and expertise to nourish what they see as no less than a revolution in social consciousness, economic evolution and planetary sustainability.

The first panel after lunch, “The Future of Financial Inclusion for Women,” was moderated by Brandee McHale, COO of Citi Foundation, with speakers Patricia Devereux, Shannon Maynard, Mary Ellen Iskenderian and Lisa Hall of Master Card, Grameen Foundation, Women’s World Banking and Calvert Foundation, respectively. The discussion focused on the need for financial literacy, a diversity of financial products and the co-delivery of environmental services, such as clean, potable water. Calvert Foundation seeks to achieve these goals through offerings with a financial and social return. These offerings empower individuals to make capital available for women enterprises in the developing world. Grammen Foundation is plugged into the power of digitization, through the use of mobile banking and e-warehousing of commodities.  And Women’s World Banking is working to develop a financial ecosystem of sorts, one which facilitates the inclusion of women in markets through the offering of complementary products that serve an enterprising woman’s near- and long-term financial needs. The takeaway message from this panel is that mainstream banks are taking notice of the bankability of these traditionally unbanked markets, not in small part because of the innovations envisioned by these incredibly
 forward-thinking women.

We know that we are experiencing a sea change in socio-economic consciousness when Walmart chooses to head a panel named “Supplier Diversification and Building Capacity for Women to Enter Global Markets.”   Sarah Thorn of Walmart was the inspiring moderator for the speakers Wila Shalit, Afshan Khan and Peggy Clark of Maiden Nation, Women for Women International and Alliance for Artisan Enterprise, respectively.  The panel was focused on the challenges, best practices and success stories of supplier diversification.  Walmart has embarked on an ambitious effort to expose its buyers not only to a wide array of artisan goods from around the world, but to the plight of the women who make them.  Given Walmart’s vast reach, the implications for raising consumer consciousness are enormous. Maiden Nation, with its sophisticated messaging and Bohemian flair, imagines a world where “we are all linked and not ranked.”  It seeks to embody this slogan by showcasing, in an e-platform, artisan goods from Brooklyn to Botswana.  Women for Women exhibited a uniquely flexible focus—by supporting the exportation of goods, while also emphasizing the creation of viable domestic markets. Its aim is to help women see themselves as agents of change through market participation, as well as ambassadors of cultural identity through their work.   The Alliance for Artisan Enterprise’s focus was on building efficiencies in the sector.  With conventional banks now in agreement that the poor are bankable, the Alliance’s efforts are focused on creating an intermediary structure of aggregators which will connect buyers to sellers and bring the market to scale.

The final panel, “Economic Empowerment: The Strategy Forward” was expertly moderated by Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations. Sitting on the panel were Elizabeth Vazquez, Yana Watson Kakar and Chanda Gibson, of WEConnect International, Dalberg Global Development and Goldman Sachs, respectively.  The takeaway from this session is the fact that women need to become smarter about how we leverage technology, as well as eachother.  WEConnect is focused on bringing sources of capital and women together by creating a vast digital network of suppliers and buyers. Dalberg seeks to strengthen women suppliers through vendor forums and networking programs. And, finally, Goldman Sachs, through their 10,000 Women Initiative, focuses on providing underserved female entrepreneurs around the world with a business and management education.

Chanda Gibson, being on the front lines of Goldman’s sourcing team for real estate development projects had this to say: “We seek to do business with like-minded people. It’s all about building personal relationships.”  And isn’t this really how the world does business?  These incredible people gathered for one fascinating day to share ideas about how to build--woman by woman, business by business--an “old girls’ network” with a mission to do well
 by changing the world for good.