When We Invest In Women

If You Want To Lift Up An Economy In Africa, You Basically Start With The Women.

Even In Our Own Agriculture Strategy, If We Got A Great New Drought-resistant Seed And We Managed To Get It Distributed In The System, We Just Assumed That It Would Reach Female Farmers. That's A False Assumption, Because Women Don't Interact With Agro-dealers. So If You Don't Develop Specific Programming To Ensure That Seed Gets In A Woman's Hands, Then The Extra Income [generated By Higher-yielding Crops] Goes Into Her Husband's Hands.

Like In Africa, If Somebody Doesn't Have Fuel, They're Still Going And Collecting Firewood. If They Get An Oven, That's A Huge Difference. You Can Do Things To Reduce The Inequities By Making Sure That They Can Get Clean Energy, Safe Energy. To Make Sure They're Not Having To Collect Water Every Day. That's Huge For Women In The Developing World.

When Girls Are Educated And Free To Pursue Their Passions, They Contribute More To A Thriving Society. When Women Have A Voice, They Raise It To Demand A Life That Is Greater Than What They've Been Told They Have A Right To Expect. And These Demands Change The Future For Everyone.

We Have To Be Careful In How We Use This Light Shined On Us.