Why the Women Empowered Market Matters
We set out on this journey to empower people and to do more good in the world. In 2019, a group of compassionate volunteers, nonprofit leaders, and purpose-driven entrepreneurs collaborated to create a meetup and market of good causes and missions. Since we began, the events have evolved a little, but our mission remains the same. Here is why the Women Empowered Market matters.
Opportunity for Women
It’s not just a trendy buzzword – empowering women really does matter. Women earn 77 cents for every dollar that men earn for the same work, but the issue of gender equality goes far beyond money. Across the globe, women deserve dignity and fair working conditions as well. According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, opportunity for women and girls is a major need. In parts of the world where women have equal opportunities and equal pay, whole families and communities are prospering economically. Women, statistically, invest more of their earnings in their children’s healthcare and education. Economic empowerment of women is key to growing economies and creating more equality.
AND we’ve learned, each woman entrepreneur in our movement is empowering herself. We aren’t giving any new power to a woman entrepreneur, whether a local maker or a global artisan. She had the power already. She is choosing to use it, and we are THRILLED to cheer on each person.
Economic Justice
In Western culture, we spend very little time considering who made our goods, who provides our services, and how the cost of a cheap item at a discount store might have impacted the makers in the supply chain. Our goal is to change this.
Each of us shoppers have spending power and choices. Once you realize that there is a real life person behind your purchases, you can’t un-know that. The cause of economic justice is a goal to provide equal opportunities, whether the maker is a woman who makes baked goods in Wichita, someone who sews gorgeous textiles in Kolkata, India, or an executive making decisions in a corporate office in New York City. We value each of these people and their set of skills.
Marketable & Meaningful Goods and Services
The consumer wins in economic justice too! When you shop with small businesses for these handmade, locally owned, women owned, fairly made goods, you have access to personal, meaningful gifts, décor, foods, and more. You don’t purchase merely because the maker is a woman – you get a lovely handmade item or quality service.
Economic justice is good for us ALL. Everyone deserves a seat at the table. This is why we keep going. The Women Empowered Market matters because it is caring for all humans, and that’s a mission we love.
Shopping with Purpose
Shoppers at our events come to purchase and also to learn and support this great movement of missions. We haven't found another community like it. Come visit an event, and see for yourself.
We post upcoming events on our Facebook page and Instagram. See you soon!
Katy Munden Penner is the Founder of Alegria Fair Trade and a freelance Digital Marketing Strategist. She loves to plan purposeful market events (like Women Empowered Market & BuyICT), eat outdoors, travel and meet Fair Trade artisans, and stand-up paddleboard.