ARTICLES

Sometimes, women empowerment looks like a woman sitting beside another woman and saying, “Let me help you.”

A woman sharing a job opportunity with another woman. A business owner recommending another woman's small business. A mother teaching her daughter how to manage money. A professional guiding a young woman through her first career decision.

These may seem like small actions, but they can change what another woman believes she is capable of doing.

This is what women empowering women is about.

Sharing knowledge with other women, opening up the possibilities for them, providing guidance and making sure that another woman doesn't have to face every issue by herself.

What Does Women Empowering Women Mean?

Women helping women means helping women to be independent, to take charge of their lives, and to make their own decisions. 

It’s about empowering women with the knowledge, resources, skills and support to make their own decisions about their future. This journey can be easier with help from other women. 

You can make a big difference when you share experiences, teach a skill, provide useful information or help someone find an opportunity, particularly if they’re trying something new.

Why Does Supporting Women Matter?

When women support each other, the benefits can extend beyond one person.

Greater Confidence: It helps to have another woman who believes in you and that can help you take that first step. Encouragement from a friend, mentor or colleague can provide a woman with the confidence to try something she may have been hesitant about. Learning a new skill or subject that you are unfamiliar with can also build your confidence. 

Women leaning on each other in those moments can help one another feel more confident in decision-making and pursuing their goals.

Better Career Opportunities: A woman's career can grow faster when she does not have to figure everything out on her own. Support from other women can provide guidance at important stages, whether she is starting her first job, changing careers or aiming for a leadership role. 

Learning from someone else's experience can help her understand the challenges ahead, make better choices and feel more confident about taking the next step. 

Better Financial Decisions: Money affects most decisions people make in their daily lives. But many women don’t get the right kind of financial education that prepares them practically for their financial decisions day to day. 

Team LakshMe’s BFF sessions will make it easier for women to understand finance, question the right persons for help or get the right information, and make decisions about their money, making them more confident and independent.

Stronger Networks: A professional network is not only a list of contacts.

It can be a group of people who share information, recommend each other's work, answer questions and provide guidance when needed.

When more women are connected to such networks, more opportunities can reach women who may not have had access to them earlier.

More Women In Leadership: When women are given the opportunity to learn and develop their skills, they can slowly take on more responsibility. 

And when women make it to the top, they can pave the way for the next women by serving as mentors, sharing their experiences and creating opportunities for others.

Women Empowerment Through Financial Literacy

One of the most practical ways women can support and empower one another is by sharing financial knowledge. 

This is where financial literacy can play an important role in women's empowerment. 

Team LakshMe - Finance Buddy for Women conducts financial literacy workshops for different audiences, from school students and college students to rural women and corporate groups.

The team does not follow exactly the same workshop for everyone.

Before a session, Team LakshMe discusses the requirements with the organisers. In some cases, participants are asked to complete a short Google Form.

This helps the team understand what participants already know and where they need more explanation.

The workshop is then designed around the audience.

For underprivileged women, the focus can be on practical subjects such as why keeping savings in a bank can be safer than keeping all money in cash. 

Sessions can also cover schemes such as Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and PPF, Ayushman Bharat, and ways to protect themselves from financial scams.

For rural women, workshops can cover subjects such as financial planning, risk management, asset classes, asset allocation and awareness on financial fraud.

For some participants, financial terms that once seemed unfamiliar become easier to understand after a conversation, an example or an interactive activity. And that is the real value of financial education.
 

Women Empowerment does not always begin with a major initiative. It can begin with one woman sharing what she knows. One woman learns. She shares what she knows. Another woman learns from her. And the cycle continues. That is the power of women empowering women.