Giving Compass' Take:

• Women-led mutual aid initiatives have been emerging around the globe and are seeing success as females step into leadership positions to combat the pandemic. 

• How can donors support more women in leadership roles? 

• Read more about the effectiveness of mutual aid networks. 

Across the world, individuals have been coming together to create mutual aid initiatives to help each other out during the current coronavirus epidemic. From creating Facebook groups to Google spreadsheets to donating items to those in need, women have led many of these ventures. Women have also been showing leadership when it comes to combating the epidemic, as countries with some of the best outcomes are being led by women.

Throughout history, women have played key roles in advocating for those around them. Dorothy Day was a social activist who advocated for the poor and indigent. She started the Catholic Worker Movement, a pacifist initiative that would set the groundwork for some of the enterprises started in the age of the coronavirus. Another female rights activist, Ericka Huggins, is a former leading member of the Black Panther Party, and was also the first woman and the first black person to be appointed to the Alameda County Board of Education.

Today, those ideals are back, helping to spur activism locally across the world. When cases of the coronavirus started appearing in Oklahoma, a group of women in the state started a Facebook group in which people who were homebound for various reasons could request a volunteer conduct their grocery shopping for them.

“The group was born from seeing a need in our own personal community,” said Rebecca McClure, one of the women who coordinates the group.“We live in a small, rural community with a large population of elderly people. We knew that they’d need assistance with getting their groceries and worried how they’d be able to do that safely. We didn’t want them to risk their safety for necessities.”

Read the full article about women-led mutual aid initiatives by Kristi Eaton at Shareable.