Cummins Powers Women Program Challenges Gender Inequality and Bias

By partnering with expert nonprofits and leveraging the unique skills and talents of Cummins employees and leaders, Cummins Powers Women has enabled equal rights and opportunity for an estimated 98,000 women and girls in 18 countries in just three years.

Launched on International Women’s Day in 2018, the now $20 million community initiative has achieved significant results including 14 gender equality law and policy changes positively impacting more than 17 million women and girls around the world, stemming from nearly 100 advocacy grants issued through the Cummins Powers Women program.  

“Last year was an incredibly challenging one on so many fronts, and women and people of color were among the most significantly impacted,” said Mary Titsworth Chandler, Vice President of Community Relations at Cummins and Chief Executive Officer of the Cummins Foundation. “Many of our Cummins Powers Women nonprofit partners shifted their work quickly to address urgent needs that arose from the pandemic, such as the increase in domestic violence and need for personal hygiene supplies, while also adapting their longer-term efforts to advocate for girls and women to the new realities presented by the global pandemic.”  

As the program continues to grow, Cummins has been adding new nonprofit partners and issuing new grants to existing partners. The most recent partnership is with Promundo, an organization focused on engaging men and boys to advance gender equality and create a world free from violence. 

"On International Women's Day – we celebrate women's leadership, and continue to affirm that men must be full partners in achieving gender equality, including by taking measures to end sexism and discrimination, remove barriers to women's advancement, and equitably share the responsibilities of raising children and taking care of our homes," says Gary Barker, President and CEO, Promundo-US.

"Along with our partners at the Kering Foundation, we're thrilled to partner with Cummins to help advance this vision and look toward the future – focusing on creating change early in boys' lives, by shifting the ways in which we're raising them,” Barker said.

The Cummins Powers Women nonprofit partners offer programs focused on gender equality such as on-the-ground mentoring and teaching of women and girls, to financial empowerment through entrepreneurship, to leadership development and advocacy at the regional level. 

Not only does Cummins Powers Women help to fund these efforts, but more than 1,300 company employees volunteered about 3,000 hours to directly helping its partner nonprofits.