Walmart represents one of the biggest promotors of female leadership in our country, and that becomes clear just by looking at the Forbes 400, the list of the 400 wealthiest people in America.
Alice and Christy Walton, two women in the family behind Walmart, are changing the game of leadership in this country by making their way to the top ten on the Forbes 400 list. They are actually the only women in the top ten. In fact, Christy and Alice Walton are two of the 34 women who make the cut. This means that only 8% of the entire list are women. This reality is not because women in the world lack the ability, motivation, or desire for entrepreneurial success- but because throughout history and still today, they often lack the opportunity and support necessary.
Walmart is looking to change that reality and shape the business world as we know it to become a place where women and men alike can flourish. Through the launching of the Empowering Women Together program as well as an online space where business women around the world can talk and exchange ideas, Walmart hopes to spark the fire that attracts more women to the business word through opportunity. It is their hope that providing women with these opportunities will improve hard working women’s lives and the lives of their families while creating jobs and bringing together communities.
To further demonstrate their cause not just through words, but actions, each supplier of the Empowering Women Together program is a women-owned business or a company with the mission of supporting and creating women-owned businesses.
70% of the people living in poverty are women and less than 7% of the venture capital goes to female start-up companies, Walmart and countless others are trying to change this and enhance the quality of life of women everywhere by allowing them to fulfill the “American dream” that everyone, not just men, dream of.
