The economic advantages of empowering women are so well documented that nations with large gender power imbalances are finally moving toward more balance. Beginning in 2004 I traveled to Africa, Asia and South America to gather the stories of extraordinary women in remote parts of the world who have empowered themselves and their communities. Here are a few of these women, remote and mostly unknown, on the vanguard of a global shift toward gender equality.

FOREWARD by Madeleine K. Albright