HUMANITARIAN aid organisation, Care Australia, has launched a new initiative in time for International Women’s Day on Tuesday, 8 March.
The Her Circle campaign aims to generate a domino effect of female empowerment by utilising the ‘multiplier effect’.
Care Australia’s Head of Engagement, Hayley Conway, said the multiplier phenomenon occurs when one woman escapes poverty, she brings four others with her.
“Around the world, the evidence shows that when women earn an income, they invest it into health and education for their families,” Ms Conway said.
“When a woman is empowered, with opportunities to lift herself out of poverty, she uplifts her family and community too.”
According to Ms Conway’s understanding of the multiplier effect, when women overcome poverty and gender inequality, beneficial outcomes extend beyond female empowerment.
Supporting the Her Circle sisterhood are four ambassadors from media and activist backgrounds, each sharing unique ideas on gender-based success.
Australian lawyer, human rights advocate, and Her Circle Ambassador, Nyadol Nyuon, believes women have a responsibility to be ‘sisters’ keepers.’
“I have made it where I am today because other people lifted my expectations and ambitions beyond what I thought I was capable of or what I deserved,” she said.
“As women, we can be the uplifters of others.”
Writer, activist, and Care ambassador Ashleigh Streeter-Jones said: “Empowering women is the key to solving inequality.”
Research on the multiplier effect has found investing in women has a universally positive effect on the community.
In 2018, the World Bank released a study that found for every year a girl stays in school, her future income increases by 18 per cent.
In 2017, George Town University published a thesis on the women’s multiplier effect, which similarly indicated that when organisations invest in a woman instead of a man, her success comes with multiple benefits.
“The effects [of investing in a woman] ripples throughout her community through her socially-responsible expenditure choices,” according to the George Town thesis.
Care Australia has centralised the multiplier effect in Her Circle to champion the idea that when ‘she’ leads, everyone benefits.
This International Women’s Day, Care Australia encourages women to support Her Circle by bringing together friends, family, or workmates, to start a conversation on female empowerment.
Tia Haralabakos
Tia Haralabakos is a Media Communications student at Monash University specialising in Journalism and human rights. She is interested in the multi-faceted landscape of digital media, particularly addressing challenges to online reporting like diversity and content moderation. Tia’s journalistic interests include human rights and social affairs.
