Four out of Five Men Agree that there is no War on Women

The WaPo morning email thingie:

Women are losing rights around the world.

• Why we’re talking about this: It’s International Women’s Day, and the U.N. warned this week that years of progress toward gender equality is being lost.
• How? Officials pointed to the Taliban’s crackdown in Afghanistan, the loss of reproductive rights — including in the U.S. — and women being forced out of schools and the workforce.

Opinons Differ: Axios email thingie reports that things are just swell for women.

The Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF) — a partnership between Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women and the International Finance Corporation — today will announce it has reached 164,000+ women entrepreneurs, eclipsing the target of 100,000 set at launch nine years ago.

• Why it matters: The program tells Axios on International Women’s Day that it has provided over $4.5 billion in loans via financial institutions to women-owned businesses.

“Working through 95 financial institutions, the first-of-its-kind finance facility has made more than 172,000 loans in 55 countries, … promoting an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the announcement says.

WEOF was launched in 2014 with funding from the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

• David Solomon, Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO, says in a statement to Axios: “Through this innovative facility, we’ve helped tens of thousands of women business owners access capital so that they can grow their businesses, reach their potential and drive economic growth.”

This week is the 15th anniversary of the 10,000 Women in-person business education program, which has reached 200,000+ women in 150+ countries since launching in 2008.

Of course, one does not negate the other and both can be true at the same time.

And now some solidarity in unlikely places:

There’s many ways of being an ally and I gotta say I love this political theater response, especially in a regime that is so dangerously repressive.

Until everyone is equal under the law, no one is equal.  We are back-sliding in the US and we must step it up. Today is International Women’s Day, but what about the other 364 days of the year? Be an ally like the man in Iran.

Speak up, speak out. And thank you for all you do, Scissorheads.