“Empowering women” is a slogan we love to use in development work. This has a myriad of meanings—from offering employment, training, and networking opportunities to providing child care and social network support and raising awareness of human rights. While economics are often at the forefront of “empowerment” discussions, we at BlinkNow Foundation have learned in our work that belonging is a major element of empowerment. When women feel a sense of belonging—in their workplaces as well as their social circles—they gain confidence and achieve more, and they are more likely to empower themselves. This emotional component needs to be factored into any development or empowerment conversation.

Women invest in people

Of course, women have been supporting one another since the beginning of time. This may have been necessary for survival when men left to fight wars or to hunt—although women hunted too, probably in groups.

When women gain financial independence and thrive, they often invest in their families, their children’s education, and health care. So empowered women create empowered families—with improved financial, emotional, physical, and mental health.

“When women feel socially connected and supported, they are not only better equipped to cope with challenges, pursue their goals, and enjoy a higher quality of life, but also to improve the lives of everyone they are connected with,” according to a Gallup study.

In our experience, when women are connected and supported, they challenge social norms and advance innovation. Women build confidence to ask for higher pay, apply for jobs in traditionally male fields, and start new businesses.

Belonging is difficult to define, but the people who feel it are often more successful in achieving their goals. This is demonstrated in many workplaces, sports teams, families, faith communities, and neighborhoods. So it follows that, when women have a sense of belonging and achieve their goals of employment, training, or starting a business, the local economy will also benefit.

This emphasis on belonging illustrates a cultural turning point, in which we are acknowledging—and even advocating—that emotional well-being and mental health play a major role in job and life success.

Lessons from Nepal

At BlinkNow, we believe that it is important to learn from the women we serve. We see this demonstrated in our work with the community of Surkhet in rural Nepal. At Kopila Valley Women’s Center, we have found that among our greatest value offerings are the group work opportunities and social connections built by program participants. Because women have traditionally fulfilled domestic care roles in the community, many suffer from isolation and loneliness, and some even suffer ongoing abuse because they are unaware of their rights.

Once these women attend training courses and invest in friendships with other participants, they develop a network of support that builds confidence, connects them to employment opportunities, and encourages them to take risks and perhaps even start their own businesses. These steps in employment and entrepreneurship are healthy for their families and build on the local economy.

In Kopila Valley School, we see belonging as a factor in our gender equality initiatives. At the intersection of sustainability and gender equality, members of the extracurricular Girls’ Club work together to host training programs for their fellow students and the community. Recently they planned a seminar to discuss eco-conscious menstrual products and their proper disposal, educating both male and female students as well as local women.

Other empowerment programs and schools can incentivize female leadership when they give girls and women a space to work together and a platform from which to be heard.

Luna Bhattari, coordinator of the Kopila Valley Women’s Center, says that social networks are the fail-safe when other parts of life do not go as planned: “Women’s empowerment requires a holistic approach. It requires vocational skills, mental well-being, economic opportunities, physical health, as well as social attachment. Social attachment and support play a crucial role for their long-term empowerment. For example, with vocational skills and other empowerment education, they can start to be independent, but if they fail in steps of life, women require social support to restart.”

Empower women to be community builders

Women are excellent builders of community. It’s up to those of us in development work to move forward with women in mind, in consultation with women, and with women leading the way. We are privileged to see this continue with the girls and women we work with, and we believe that these brilliant people, with new confidence, will inspire and expand opportunities for  even more women.

There are many layers necessary for building a gender-just society. Creating a feeling of community and offering a sense of belonging are not replacements for policies and practices that reinforce equality. But the two must go hand in hand; as we have learned in Nepal and as it is demonstrated around the world, belonging helps women to thrive. And when women thrive, families and economies thrive.

Katy Munden Hays is PR manager for the BlinkNow Foundation, the U.S. funding partner for the Kopila Valley programs.