The key to expanding statistics likes these into norms is education and opportunity. That’s where the Avery Dennison Foundation puts its focus. “When the Foundation launched in 2010, our core pillars were Sustainability and Education. Pretty quickly though, we saw, and heard from employees, that empowering women should be another critical focal point for us. So we added Women’s Empowerment as a third philanthropic pillar to the Foundation’s mission,” Alicia says. And the Foundation became intentional about it, she adds. “We created a metric, a target, goals we were aiming towards. Once you claim it and put metrics around it, it drives action.”
Women’s Empowerment programs through the Avery Dennison Foundation include a $50,000 grant to Global Greengrants to advance women’s empowerment and environmental sustainability in
the Global South. “The goal of the grant was to provide funding for seven female-led grantees working on issues of environmental sustainability and women’s empowerment,” Alicia explains. “We recently learned that 10 programs were funded, including:
Increasing women’s role in decision-making in China
Engaging women in Honduras around food security issues
Strengthening women’s voices to defend their rights in Mexico”
“Each of the projects that the Avery Dennison Foundation has helped support is amplifying women’s voices, and ensuring their increased participation and leadership in local environmental sustainability initiatives,” says Ursula Miniszewski, Program and Development Officer, Gender and Environment, Global Greengrants Fund. With the support of the Avery Dennison Foundation, “we are helping women access their basic human rights to a clean, healthy, and safe environment.”
