A social business, as conceptualized by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, is a venture whose mission is to achieve a specific social or environmental goal. This might be to ensure safe drinking water for a community, to provide better nutrition for malnourished children or to promote renewable energy. Supporters invest in the company, not in the hope of making personal gain, but in the hope of sparking positive change in the world. Like any other enterprise, a social business covers its costs and makes a profit (to be reinvested in the company). However, the mark of success is not the size of the profit generated, but rather the company’s social or environmental impact.
Christian Vanizette, Co-Founder (or “Co-Backpacker”, as he prefers) of MakeSense has caught the social business fever and has ambitious plans to create a pandemic of social entrepreneurship throughout the world....
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On International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Women’s Worldwide Web pays tribute to Lisa Shannon, Founder of 
India-based W4 guest blogger, Poorvi Shrivastav (right), shares her thoughts on the resilience and courage of Saira Laiqat—a woman from Pakistan who was tragically burned by acid at the hands of her husband-to-be after she expressed her wish to pursue an education. Our editor-in-chief would like to alert readers that the following piece contains material that may be upsetting. Saira is photographed here by photojournalist and women's rights advocate 
Women's Worldwide Web is extremely proud to feature the work of Izabella Demavlys, who portrays the stunning spirit and beauty of women who have survived acid attacks. Our editor-in-chief would like to alert readers that the following piece contains material that may be upsetting.
“There are 3.3 billion women in the world, which makes 3.3 billion ways to change the world.” This is the rallying cry for the twenty-one delegates who will attend this year’s G(irls)20 Summit in Paris, from October 16th to 21st.
Women’s Worldwide Web welcomes back 2011 Teach for India Fellow and guest blogger Devanik Saha, who recounts his experience teaching bright, ambitious girls at a government-run, low-income girls’ school in New Delhi. 
Women’s Worldwide Web is honored to feature the work of anthropologist and oral historian, Rosemary Sayigh, who helps to give voice to Palestinian women and illuminate their essential role both in supporting their families and in rewriting the history of the Palestinian people.
Women’s Worldwide Web welcomes guest blogger Kim Ha, a French-born citizen of Vietnamese descent, who talks about her recent trip to Vietnam as a volunteer with 
On the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, Women’s Worldwide Web looks back on an era of widespread slavery and pays tribute to the countless men and women who struggled to abolish the transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century. Sadly, this day is also a reminder that in the C21st, slavery persists and affects every region and every country in the world. 
Women's Worldwide Web welcomes guest blogger, Devanik Saha.
Domestic violence is an umbrella term for any form of sexual, physical, psychological, or economic abuse perpetrated on an individual by an intimate partner or family member either within or outside the home. This constitutes a devastating social problem that affects individuals, particularly women, worldwide, no matter their origin, level of education or income—a study by UNICEF finds that the rate of domestic violence against women varies from 20 to 50 percent from country to country.
Few foreigners who travel to Thailand are familiar with the town of Mae Sot. Lying along the northwestern border with Burma, Mae Sot appears to have none of the excitement and appeal of Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Yet for those fleeing conflict and deprivation in neighbouring Burma, Mae Sot is a place, if not of permanent hope, then of prolonged and necessary refuge. Among its resident Thai population of roughly 110,000 lives an equivalent (or perhaps greater) population of refugees and economic migrants from Burma, encompassing the full panoply of Burma’s ethnic and religious diversity—Burman, Rohinga, Karen, Kareni, Chin, Mon; Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian.
Women’s Worldwide Web recognises the critical role that women and girls have to play in building a demographically more stable world. Now, more than ever, it is vital that women across the globe should have ready access to reliable information on reproductive health and family planning services. UNFPA Executive Director, 
According to the International Co-operative Alliance, cooperatives can be thanked for the creation of more than 100 million jobs worldwide. Women’s Worldwide Web celebrates International Day of Cooperatives, recognizing that cooperatives, as member-owned and people-oriented businesses, provide crucial economic opportunities, particularly for women, allowing them to support themselves, provide for their families and contribute to the overall socioeconomic development of their larger communities.
Social Business Day coincides with the birthday of Professor Muhammad Yunus—the inspiring leader of the social business movement that advocates an alternative concept of value creation: one that goes beyond narrow financial profits and makes it a company’s primary goal to address key social and environmental objectives.
On a dusky evening in spring, we travel to the northwestern outskirts of Beijing, where 400,000 of the 7 million Beijing-based migrant workers and their families reside. Our guide is the gracious Pat Yang, Founder and Director of 
Kathy LeMay is an activist, author, and CEO of Raising Change, an organization dedicated to raising capital for philanthropic projects and social change worldwide. In 1994, Ms. LeMay volunteered in war-torn Yugoslavia, where she worked with women survivors of the siege and rape-genocide camps. This experience reinforced her commitment to raising the awareness of women’s rights and building a critical mass of women leaders. Since then, Ms. LeMay has raised more than $100 million in philanthropic dollars in the fields of women’s human rights, hunger and poverty relief, HIV/AIDS, and movement-building. Her book, The Generosity Plan, describes the ways in which we can all incorporate individual philanthropy -- our time, treasure, and talent -- into our daily lives. It is, Ms. LeMay believes, only by making philanthropy part of each of our daily lives that we can, as a society, reap the rewards of lasting social change.
mothers2mothers
Women's Worldwide Web pays tribute to a woman remarkable for her generosity, her vivacity and her unique vision of the world—the renowned African poet, Ama Ata Aidoo.
In celebration of Poetry Month, Women's Worldwide Web pays tribute to Gcina Mhlophe—celebrated South African poet, director, actress, storyteller, activist, and woman of Africa. Mhlophe has long been honored throughout South Africa, and internationally, for her stunningly eloquent manipulation of words and her transformation of language into a powerful vehicle for education and intercultural understanding.
Founded in 1993 by a French musician, Antonin Maurel, and a Spanish clown, Tortell Poltrona, 
At age 14, Sarah Kay was the youngest spoken word poet at New York City’s Bowery Poetry Club and, in 2004—at only 16 years old—she founded her own national movement, 
JR’s artistic style is unorthodox and some viewers consider his work highly provocative: JR has illegally posted black-and-white photographs on the Haussmannian rooftops of Paris, on rural hillsides in Kenya and train cars in Cambodia, on bustling street corners in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and in countless other places. JR’s technique is based on capturing the general public’s attention by directly confronting them with his photographs and the lives that they represent.
Monkeywood theatre was established in 2003 and has been producing acclaimed and popular productions ever since. Their newest piece, Once in a House on Fire, is based on the prize-winning and internationally bestselling memoir by Andrea Ashworth (which has been optioned for a feature film, while previous stage versions of the book have had theatre appearances in Europe). A haunting and yet funny story of a chaotic childhood in Manchester, the book illustrates Andrea’s upbringing, following her from Manchester to Canada and back. It is a harrowing tale of violence and poverty, but Andrea’s love of books and poetry and of her mother and sisters, coupled with her desperate urge to escape, transform this from anything like an “abuse” story into something spirited and beautiful and unforgettable.
She also advocated for the Women’s Economic Equity Act in 1984 to guarantee women’s freedom from pension discrimination, to grant homemakers the ability to open individual retirement accounts, and to allow homemakers access to further state assistance in times of need.
Born in Eastern France, the youngest of five children in a farming family, Joan of Arc suffered along with her compatriots during the last phase of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, witnessing up close the violence and devastation of battle. And, like most of the people around her, she was never given the opportunity to learn to read or write. But she did not allow her status as an illiterate peasant girl to stand in her way. After hearing divine voices, she became inspired to leave home at 16, determined to save her country. Although she was uneducated and many regarded her as a mad...
In 1993, Yanar Mohammed left Iraq and headed for Canada with a promise: to return and give back to her country. Ten years later, she was able to honor her promise. In April 2003, Yanar hung up the sign for the newly-formed 
Leslie T. Chang lived in China for a decade as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, specializing in stories that explored how socioeconomic change is transforming institutions and individuals. She has also written for National Geographic. Factory Girls is her first book.
The Women's Worldwide Web celebrates the iridescently thoughtful and gorgeously musical new book of poetry from Maureen McLane.
We are very happy to welcome you, on International Women’s Day, to the inaugural pages of 
