One hundred twenty women, totaling 60 mentoring couples, participated in the recent Miami edition of the Vital Voices mentoring walk.
The event attracted women from diverse backgrounds such as: Teresa Costantini, Argentine filmmaker; Danie Gomez Ortigoza, Mexican blogger-journalist; Cheryl Mc.Dowell, vice president of Finance & Business Operations at Oracle Corporation; Maria Elena Amado, practice administrator at Fertility & IVF Center of Miami; Maria Mas Blet, vice president at Wells Fargo; Zoel, artist, and Marcela Garcia Bonini, plastic artist, as well as others.
Ten high school seniors participated, along with a 14-year-old girl, named Azul, who was mentored by Debra Pogorolesky, co-founder of Bridges Unite.
With the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report findings indicating that gender parity is more than 200 years away, there has never been a more important time to keep motivated and #PressforProgress, Vital Voices’ hashtag. And with global activism for women’s equality fuelled by movements like #MeToo, #TimesUp and more, there is a strong global momentum striving for gender equality.
Events that encourage female empowerment are crucial in cities such as Miami, where gender inequality continues to dominate the workplace. According to a 2016 study conducted by Miami-Dade County, women only make 87 cents to every dollar a man earns, and in male-dominated professions that can lead to higher rates of female exclusion as positions increase. At a global level, only 19 percent of company board members are women, while less than 5 percent are CEOs. This makes female-led mentorship programs paramount to the professional success of women.
