Why Women’s Empowerment?
These numbers are problematic.
- An estimated 122 million girls globally are out of school, half of whom are adolescents (Plan International, 2025).
- At least 12 million girls are married each year before age 18 — that’s 22 girls every minute (UNICEF).
- 16 million girls between the ages 6 and 11 will never start school compared to 8 million boys (UNESCO).
- At the primary level only 23% of low-income countries (LICs) have achieved gender parity (World Bank).
- At the secondary level only 15% of LICs have achieved gender parity (World Bank).
Educating and empowering women leads to economic development.
- Closing the gender gap in employment could add up to $28 trillion to global GDP (McKinsey Global Institute).
- One year of secondary education for a girl can mean as much as a 25% increase in wages (World Bank).
- Closing the gender digital divide could lift 30 million women out of poverty and generate $1.5 trillion in GDP by 2030 (UNWomen).
- When women’s participation in the labor market increased by 15% in Latin America over a decade, the rate of poverty decreased by 30% (World Bank).
- According to the United Nations, economies in the developing world grow by 3% for every 10% increase in the number of women who receive secondary schooling.
- The average rate of return for educating a girl is 10% for each additional year of schooling, with returns highest in low and middle-income countries (World Bank).
- If all girls completed 12 years of education, child marriage rates would drop by 64% (UNICEF).
When women share positions of leadership entire communities are improved.
- When household income is controlled by women, child nutrition, health, and education outcomes improve significantly compared to when resources are exclusively controlled by men (UNWomen).
- When rural women earn their own income, they spend 75% to 80% of it directly on household food security, dietary diversity, and family nutrition (FAO).
Why Grassroots?
Globally, women experience oppression due to various forms of socio-cultural and structural disempowerment. This inequality manifests itself as domestic or sexual violence and restricts access to health, education, and employment opportunities.
Grassroots organizations deeply understand the needs of their communities because they are embedded within them. The organizations we partner with address these inequalities and solve real problems with their programs. Because our partners know their communities, we appeal to their expertise on how we can achieve our mutual goal of women’s empowerment together.
Working with grassroots partners allows us to meaningfully grow existing programs that enable local women to live better lives through greater access to training, support services, education, and financial opportunities.
