Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), the world’s largest investment bank, recently announced a plan to spend $100-million (U.S.) on a program to teach 10,000 women about business and management around the world.
The program, titled “10,000 Women,” will primarily target women in the Middle East, Asia and Africa with the goal of increasing their standard of living and raising gross domestic product annually in hundreds of developing countries. The program hopes to open doors for thousands of women whose financial and practical circumstances prevent them from receiving a traditional business education.
In addition to funding tuition for business and management education, 10,000 Women will work with development organizations to better understand the local challenges girls and young women must overcome so more of them can realize economic opportunity and achieve their full potential. Many of these partnerships will seek to establish mentoring and networking channels for women and encourage career development opportunities.
Why women?
10,000 Women has been in development for more than a year and was inspired by economic research from Goldman Sachs that showed the powerful effects of greater labor force participation of women on economies and societies. The research, released in a report titled “Women Hold Up Half the Sky,” demonstrates that strengthening education for women is a critical and underutilized lever for economic growth in developing and emerging economies.
Here are some of the findings:
- The impact of female education is felt not only in women’s lifetimes, but also in the health,education and productivity of future generations as well. The economic growth that resultsfrom higher education feeds a virtuous cycle that supports continued improvements in education and health.
- Narrowing the existing gender gap in employment could increase income per capita by as much as 10%–14% above our baseline forecasts in the BRICs and other key emerging markets by 2020. Higher levels of female education could also have raised trend GDP growth rates in these countries by 0.2% over the past decade.
The program has already found its first beneficiary, a 27 year old Egyptian woman who designs and sells handmade furniture.
Learn more about 10,000 women here:
- 10000women.org
- 10,000 Women Fact Sheet [PDF, 216 KB]
- 10,000 Women Key Biographies [PDF, 51 KB]
- Global Economic Research: Women Hold up Half the Sky
