Thanks to Wikicommons.

We at US Democrazy had a rare treat this weekend. We got to see the future.

We reported (and tweeted) from fascinating The World in 2011 Festival presented by The Economist magazine.

The event assembled great minds in New York City to share their thoughts on the year ahead. There were three days of events with a celebrated collection of speakers including President Bill Clinton, Admiral Gary Roughead, (Chief of US Naval Operations),  Master chef Jose Andres, Grammy award winning artist Loudon Wainwright III.

So what is the future going to hold?  Well Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership says we should

Forget India, forget China, even forget the Internet.  Women are the emerging market.

For this untapped resources to reach it’s potential change is needed to give women across the world the opportunity they deserve.

The Women’s Economic Opportunity Index, which ranks 113 nations based on a number of factors (ranking the US at #15) found that although many nations have gender equality laws little is done to enforce them.

Echoing this idea, Kah Wala, a candidate for Cameroon’s presidency, argues that globally women are a huge part of the informal economy (i.e. businesses not monitored by the government) but this does not allow them to build wealth.

To allow women to build a future an investment needs to be made so “they can stand on their own feet” in Zainab Salbi’s own words.  Salbi is CEO of Women for Women International a program which helps women in conflict zones.

Describing women as the next emerging market got us wondering…  What can we do to help our female readers be forces of change in our world?