The Cummins Powers Women landmark community initiative was recently announced. The initiative will help advance Cummins’ long-term commitment to the empowerment of women and girls around the world, the company stated.
As part of this program, Cummins has partnered with a network of trusted nonprofits to make a larger, more sustainable and long-lasting impact in the communities in which it operates.
“Cummins’ mission is to make people’s lives better by powering a more prosperous world and Cummins Powers Women epitomizes this purpose,” said Tom Linebarger, Cummins chairman and CEO. “One way we seek to better communities is by investing in programs that improve the lives of women and girls. We’ve seen firsthand the positive transformation that happens when we ensure diversity and inclusion within our organization, bringing more women into our business at every level.”
Cummins Powers Women is the company’s most ambitious community initiative ever, the company stated, representing a multi-million-dollar investment in proven programs designed to create large-scale impact in the lives of women and girls globally. The programs will focus on areas where significant barriers exist to the advancement of girls and women.
For example, for every extra year a girl stays in school, her income can increase by 15 to 25 percent (USAID (2017)).
Research shows that if women were to participate in the economy identically to men, they could add as much as $28 trillion or 26 percent to annual global GDP in 2025.
This is roughly the combined size of the economies of the U.S. and China today (McKinsey Global Institute, The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth (2015)).
Through Cummins Powers Women, the company will partner with a network of global non-profit organizations in the following regions that have existing, outcome-based programs to accelerate gender equality:
- Girls Inc. – North America
- Rosa Fund – U.K.
- Save the Children – Germany
- China Women’s Development Foundation – China
- Rise Up – Africa, Latin America and India
- Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education – Ghana
- CARE Australia – Cambodia
- Girls Academy – Australia
“We were rigorous in our evaluation, and we are pleased to partner with nonprofits around the world that have research-based programs, metrics in place and a really strong track record of success empowering women and girls,” said Mary Titsworth Chandler, VP of corporate responsibility and CEO of the Cummins Foundation. “We have invested in a wide range of programs from on-the-ground mentoring and teaching of women and girls, to financial empowerment through entrepreneurship to leadership development and advocacy at the regional level.”
Additionally, as a major proponent of leadership training and development programs, Cummins is funding leadership training and strategic skills development for non-profit leaders.
“The growth and improvements we have seen in our own company through an inclusive environment for women are the catalyst for us to dream about a future for all women that includes abundant opportunity for global leadership, invention, skill and creativity – a world powered by women in which progress accelerates, invention amplifies and solutions become easier to find,” said Chandler.
In addition to the announcement of Cummins Powers Women, the company is celebrating its holistic commitment to women with its second global Women’s Conference for leadership, held March 8-9 in Indianapolis.
Sessions at the conference focus on developing an even more inclusive environment, including exploring gender diversity around the world and building leadership behaviors to create the right environment of gender diversity and inclusion across the company.
Today, women account for 35 percent of the Cummins Leadership Team.
Also, this week in recognition of its commitment to girls, Cummins was honored with the 2018 Corporate Vision Award by Cummins Powers Women partner Girls Inc. at the nonprofit’s annual luncheon in New York on March 7.
“We are honored to embark on this long-term partnership with Cummins Inc. to ensure many more girls can benefit from life-changing Girls Inc. programming,” said Judy Vredenburgh, Girls Inc.’s president and CEO. “It is furthermore our distinct pleasure to salute Cummins Inc. as the 2018 Corporate Vision Award recipient at our New York luncheon for their commitment to supporting girls’ and women’s empowerment through financial investment, volunteerism and leadership development.”