Women: World's largest emerging market.

Women collectively represent the single most important force in the global economy. So much so that the Harvard Business Review has coined the phrase "Female Economy."¹ Over the next five years, women's global income is estimated to increase by $5 trillion, more than twice the GDP growth expected from China and India combined.² Propelled by this new social paradigm, women are moving the global economy forward.

At Women & Co., we're watching this transformation and seeing that it's not only through earnings and wealth accumulation that the economic momentum of women impacts our world. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, there may be no better investment for developing countries than the investment to educate girls. It leads to higher wages, increased health care and better education in communities. We witness this reinvestment mentality play out among the Women & Co. community again and again. Women pass it on. They share their knowledge, promote issues important to their families and make decisions based on a community-oriented value system.

Women are also finding new outlets for expressing their values. Estimated to make 85 percent of consumer spending decisions, they are creating significant profits for the companies they choose to support.³ Likewise, we've heard in conversations with women across the country that more women are withholding their dollars, both their spending dollars and investment capital, from companies that don't share their values. And it's not only through spending and investing; women also express their values through gifting. Women in the U.S. give an average of 3.5 percent of their wealth to charity, while men give an average of 1.8 percent.⁴

The economic momentum of women is big and building. We're on the brink of what The Economist referred to as "arguably the biggest social change of our time," and over the last 10 years at Women & Co., we've not only planted ourselves in the first row, we've thrown our proverbial weight behind it. We're a community of financially minded women, a place to turn for the financial resources that help women drive the global economy forward. I hope you'll join us in this endeavor. Tell me what you think, spread your ideas and keep the momentum going.

For further exploration of the economic momentum of women, please click this link to request a copy of Women & Co.'s new report, Looking Back. Moving Forward.

NOTES

1.Harvard Business Review, 2009

2.Nielsenwire Below the Topline, 2009

3.Women Certified, 2009