Book Review: Buying for Impact by Elizabeth Vazquez and Andrew Sherman

Vazquez and Sherman describe the collaboration now occurring among some of the biggest companies in the world– Walmart, Goldman Sachs, IBM, ExxonMobil, Intel–and governments, NGOs, international agencies.  The radical aspect is in the intent:  to refocus the global supply chain to include women as vendors. This sounds so technical when you write it out, but the upshot will be an historic equalizing in the location of wealth, from a gender perspective.  It is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened in women’s rights.  And that makes Buying for Impact an important book.

It doesn’t read like Beauvoir.  And the little diagrams are more like B-School than Betty Friedan.  And they will never accept this in gender studies, even if they read it (which they won’t).  But mark my words, there will be more change coming from this radical collaboration than from a month of marches.

My hat is off.