A Path to Empowerment

In March 2014, at the International Women’s Day Forum at the United Nations, the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School (CSRI) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Center (CCC) made a joint commitment to convene a series of roundtable dialogues to explore the role of corporations in supporting women’s economic empowerment. Each invitation-only roundtable was comprised of 15 to 20 leaders from major multinational corporations currently engaged in or interested in women’s economic empowerment as a business case and/or a social venture. The companies spanned functional areas within their organizations. Expert presenters who are practitioners and thought-leaders in the field of women’s empowerment joined each session to provide further insight and to challenge the group to identify ways that each company, alone or in partnership, could most effectively engage. Use of the Chatham House rule enabled candid dialogue, with the aim of facilitating shared learning and establishing or strengthening relationships and specific partnerships. The content of the roundtables informed this framing report.