7.4% of the CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations are women, meaning only 37 women are in the driver’s seats of these 500 major companies.
Fortune Magazine (2020)
Advancing Women’s Leadership & Civic Engagement
On the SouthCoast, advancing women’s leadership is imperative to close the gender gap and to bring more diversity to the top decision-making positions in business, politics, the arts, and other industries.
Transitioning young women and girls from classroom to boardroom is a monumental task, and one that requires forward-thinking and sound incubating leadership programs. Planned initiatives going forward include:
We fundprograms that encourage women to become more civically engaged. We will design workshops for first-time voters, conduct trainings on how to run for elected office, and offer volunteer options in the SouthCoast community for greater civic participation.
We advocate to influence policy that promotes women’s social and economic progress.
We consult, pro bono, to nonprofits in need of strategic planning, initiative development and design, and grant writing.
We convenecommunity dialogues on gender issues in order to build coalitions to promote progress.
We provide mentorship for young women professionals to accelerate their growth and professional progress.
We gather collaborative networks of women leaders to create pathways for collective action in the community and promote gender equity.
We increase the representation of women on nonprofit, for-profit, and public sector committees and boards, with an emphasis on including women of color.

The SouthCoast Community Discussed Issues Facing Women and Girls at the Massachusetts Commission on The Status of Women’s Advocacy Day
On May 31 the Women’s Fund and our community partners went to the MA State House to advocate for community-driven solutions to issues affecting women and girls in our region.

Rally for Reproductive Justice!
The Women’s Fund SouthCoast and other members of the Women’s Alliance and the Our Bodies Our Lives Coalition rallied on Saturday, April 15th from 11 am -12 pm at the Federal Building