Perhaps All Women Should Wear the Bullet Proof Vests One of Them Invented

Source: http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/opportunity-collaboration-in-action/

Opportunity Collaboration in Action
Jonathan C. Lewis is founder/CEO of the Opportunity Collaboration, a diverse community of 250 social investors and entrepreneurs who annually attend a strategic offsite on World Poverty Day to leverage resources, combine forces, share innovations and operate more effectively. He is also the founder of MicroCredit Enterprises which leverages private capital for microloans. Jonathan is a recipient the Social Venture Network Innovation Award. Women and girls will be a major focus of the Opportunity Collaboration

The inventor of the laser printer? A woman. The windshield wiper? A woman. The bullet proof vest? A woman.
Less admirably, women perform 66% of the world’s work and produce 50% of the world’s food, but earn a meager 10% of the income (and own just 1% of the property). As a matter of social values, economic justice and common sense, it is hard to explain why the smartest, hardest working mother in the poorest country on the face of the Earth and the female CEO of an electronic flea market aren't both compensated equitably for their societal contribution.

The devastating, daily impact of poverty on women? 60% of all unpaid family workers globally are women. 57% of children not in school are girls. One in three women and girls are victimized by gender-based violence. Every minute, a woman somewhere needlessly dies in pregnancy or childbirth. Of the adults worldwide who cannot read, two-thirds of them are women. 70% of the world’s poor are women.

No wonder then that a central focus of the Opportunity Collaboration is women and girls. Funders and practitioners alike are converging on World Poverty Day in Ixtapa, Mexico, to foster and promote the pivotal role of women in economic development, both internationally and in the United States.

Delegates will join presentations by Global Fund for Women Founder Anne Firth Murray on “Women's Health & Human Rights: Poverty Can Work for Me”, Count Me In CEO Nell Merino on “Rosie the Riveter, Meet Elaine the Entrepreneur”, Foundation for Women CEO Deborah Lindholm on “The First Female President of an African Nation – The End of Patriarchy”, Womens Donor Network Board Member Nancy Harris Dalwin on “Post-Katrina Collaboration Lessons”, New Philanthropy Advisors Partner Sara S. Hall on “High Engagement Women’s Philanthropy”, and WorldPulse Magazine CEO Jensine M. Larson on “Using Social Media to Connect and Empower Women Worldwide”.

For inspiration from entrepreneurial women around the globe, award-winning photojournalist Paola Gianturco will narrate an exhibition of her work from “Women Who Light the Dark”. Come share this special moment at the Opportunity Collaboration.