Women and Innovation

From addressing reproductive health to closing the wage gap, women’s issues have been a point of focus for social innovators looking to create lasting change. In honor of upcoming International Women’s Day, we dug up 10 articles and blog posts from the Stanford Social Innovation Review archives with breakthrough ideas, and new perspectives on women and gender.

 

Rise of Gender Capitalism
In this feature article, Jackie VanderBrug and Sarah Kaplan examine the social impact potential of gender lens investing—how companies can increase women’s access to capital, promote workplace equity, and create products and services that improve the lives of women and girls.

 

Empowering Women at the Grassroots
Marissa Wesely and Dina Dublon look at how some companies are funding locally rooted organizations to promote women’s empowerment. Also see Wesely’s recent “Gender Equity and Corporate Sustainability” blog post.

 

Lean In—Together
Jessica Seigel tackles little-known research on the gender pay gap, specifically that pay equity is higher in countries where women's involvement in advocacy and organizing efforts is more robust.

 

Applied Womenomics
Corey Binns profiles how Goldman Sachs’s strategy of investing in female entrepreneurs in India has benefitted from a data-driven focus.

 

What’s Sex Got to Do with It?
Girls are hot. Reproductive rights are not. Kavita N. Ramdas argues that promoting education for girls must incorporate a less-marketable focus on sex education to be effective.

 

The Gender Accelerator
Katie Drasser and Vanessa Valenti explore the potential of impact accelerators to make a dent in the funding gap for women’s issues.

 

Transformative Wealth from Women, for Women
Jackie Zehner offers advice for a new class of female donors: give big, be bold, apply a gender lens, and collaborate.

 

Feminism Meets Philanthrocapitalism
Marcia Stepanek offers highlights from the last year’s Clinton Global Initiative and Social Good Summit, including how figures such as Hilary Clinton and Melinda Gates are giving new momentum to women’s empowerment.

 

The Power of Diverse Leadership
Surina Khan argues that investing in women’s leadership within organizations is necessary to substantively address gender inequality. Part of the Talent Matters series.

 

Iraq’s Entrepreneurial Awakening Needs Women
Iraq is undergoing a change from top-down political system to one that encourages entrepreneurialism. Amel Abed Mohammed Ali notes several opportunities for women to contribute to this growing economy.

Check out our complete archive of articles related to women and girls here.

Read more stories by Devin Briski.