NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Editor’s Note: During the Vietnam War, two Methodist ministers started an investment fund that purposely excluded weapons manufacturers.

It was around that time, in the second half of the 20th century, that more women started occupying more senior level positions in the American workforce. Several decades later, Sallie Krawcheck climbed the ladder of high finance, becoming one of the rare women to make such high strides in a male-dominated industry.

Today, it’s not just the Lean In movement that’s encouraging more women to assert their voices in the workplace and take leadership roles in business. Businesswomen, like those in Krawcheck’s Ellevate Network, and anyone else can financially invest in other women and in women-led companies in the latest incarnation of socially responsible investing.