04.06.2020.
We partnered with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women in the #SDG5 week to tell the story of how they are working towards achieving Gender Equality, and to invite women entrepreneurs to Open-Access Business Resilience Programme.
Tell us about the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women
"The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women helps release the potential of women entrepreneurs in low and middle-income countries, and close the global gender gap in entrepreneurship.
Since the Foundation’s inception in 2008, it has directly supported over 160,000 women across more than 100 countries, contributing to the global movement to achieve economic gender equality and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Our Founder, Cherie Blair CBE QC, was inspired to set up the Foundation both by her own personal experiences as a woman entrepreneur, and by the travels, she undertook during her time in Downing Street. As the wife of the Prime Minister, she was able to travel abroad and meet many women all over the world who were clearly talented and ambitious, and who were striving to set up businesses to create a better life for themselves and their families. But they were often doing this in the face of huge, gendered hurdles – a lack of capital and investment or knowledge about how to run a business or resistance from family members. Cherie Blair knew there was no reason why these women could not achieve their goals if they only had the right skills and tools at their disposal within an enabling environment, and so she established the Foundation to facilitate just that.
“Currently, all over the world gender inequality means that women earn less than men and are more likely to own micro, vulnerable and informal businesses. Women are less likely to have access to assets, property, and financial services. They are far more likely to shoulder the burden of unpaid work. This not only restricts economic opportunities and livelihoods for families around the world: it means half the world’s population being denied basic human rights. That just isn’t right, and it spells an enormous missed opportunity.“ said Cherie Blair CBE QC, Founder of Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.
How do you support women?
"Through its combined approach of programmatic delivery and advocacy, the Foundation supports women to start and grow successful micro, small and medium businesses, with training, technology, mentoring, and networking at the heart of its work. This opens doors to finance, markets, contacts and more and enables women to create better futures for themselves and their families, enable their communities to prosper, contribute to strong economies, and move the world in a whole new direction.
The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Report estimates that closing the gap in economic participation and opportunity is now 257 years away; that is 55 years more than was estimated in last year’s report. To think that no woman or girl alive today will see economic equality in her lifetime is unimaginable, and the fact that prospects are worsening is frankly unacceptable."
You are actively working to reach the SDG 5 goal. Tell us more about that!
"Women are persistently over-represented among the world’s most vulnerable groups, as access to resources and the rewards of economic development remain heavily skewed towards men, whilst women continue to be victims of systemic discrimination and negative stereotyping. While there have been movements to promote equality and empower women from companies and individuals, the Foundation believes that we need to increase efforts to ensure that the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030."
“Women's economic empowerment is fundamental to women's ability to move out and stay out of poverty. It is crucial to achieving Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Yet women still face a host of chronic gender-based challenges to growing strong, sustainable businesses. It’s absolutely vital that we invest in women and create a global business ecosystem that is truly gender equal." said Mrs. Cherie Blair.
"As one of the key organisations successfully working internationally towards achieving economic gender parity, we proudly work to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Our ambitions continue to grow and this year, in order to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women launched its 100,000 Women Campaign. The Campaign will both directly support over 100,000 more women entrepreneurs in low and middle-income countries over the next three years and, through advocacy, work to create a more enabling global business ecosystem for women, empowering them to create a better future for themselves, their families, their communities and the world."
“By supporting gender equality, the world can make significant gains toward several of the Sustainable Development Goals too. The benefits of economically empowering women include ending extreme poverty and hunger, improving healthcare, and ensuring better education for children globally.” concluded Mrs. Blair.
An amazing opportunity for women entrepreneurs!
The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women has launched a new, free-to-use online course for women entrepreneurs. Focused on business resilience training, it guides users through the development of a 90-day action plan to safeguard their businesses during COVID-19. Join today! https://cherieblairfoundation.org/business-resilience-programme/
Follow their work and help them empower more women by supporting the Foundation.
https://cherieblairfoundation.org/
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