by Anesia Meredith

Women’s Way was founded in the mid-1970s by a group of women running women-focused agencies that were struggling to keep their doors open. Some of the most important issues they focused on – namely, wage equity, rape crisis, domestic violence, and reproductive freedom – were controversial and hard to fund.

Mary Scout, the controller at Women’s Way for 16 years and has been with the organization for 40, started her career as a CPA at PriceWaterhouse in 1965. Mary is a professional registered parliamentarian and serves as parliamentarian for Women’s Way.  At Women’s Way’s what inspires Mary the most is the love she has for working with young women who are committed to the mission of the Women’s Way organization.

According to to the AAUW “The Simple Truth About Gender Wage & Pay Gap,” “At the rate of change between 1960 and 2015, women are expected to reach pay equity with men in 2059.” But even with the slow progress that has stalled in recent years, Women’s Way provides the education and tools that are discussed in the “simple truth.” For example, women earn 80 cents to the $1 men earn in the United States. Women’s Way has  developed plans for all women to help minimize the lack of earnings between  groups.

Women’s Way begin their strategic plan with the innovative “Cliff Effect,”  The cliff effect in Pennsylvania is where women often are not able to gain economic security for themselves or their families due to misalignment in the public assistance system. Women’s Way collaborates with other organizations to share best practices on how to most effectively achieve economic self-sufficiency, such as providing individuals with workshops and issuing different grants to agencies working directly with women, girls and families. Over the years “The Women’s Way Community” and its Board of Collaborations have funded and rewarded individuals over $2 million through 220 grants.

Women’s Way helps young girls and women utilize their expertise. The organization invests and assists both populations of females through long-term partnerships with dynamic non-profits who serve women, girls and families. Women’s Way also helps females through the Community Women’s Fund which allows them to address the immediate, time-sensitive needs of women and girls.

For example, Women’s Way  helps communities by actively going out and developing and organizing girls clubs and camps for young girls all over Pennsylvania and New Jersey.These clubs and camps were developed to give young girls and women a place to grow and be themselves. Because for most of the young females whoare involved with Women’s Way, they are usually those who are struggling economically within their community. The goal for Women’s Way is not financially to provide for women, but to give them the right tools and provide them with the right opportunities to help themselves.

Woman’s Way funds  many other non-profit organizations to advocate for all women’s issues. These issues include funding vital projects such as, sexual assault survivor counseling, women’s maternal health care, girls’ empowerment programs, workforce readiness, financial literacy, supportive housing and shelters for survivors of domestic violence.

Over the course of 38 years, Woman’s Way has taken on cutting edge issues that relate to women and girls. Woman’s Way also dedicates itself to tackling the region’s problems by grantmaking, as well as public education and advocacy initiatives to respond directly to communities’ needs. They have positively impacted the lives of more than 200,000 women and their families.