Sakena Yacoobi of the Afghanistan Institute of Learning proved particularly quotable. The conference she joined is part of the 2015 annual International Women’s Day Forum and was widely tweeted about via #USCCFwomen.

In his State of the Union address a year ago, Obama called for action on paid leave. Advocates say that after a game-changing 2015 a rising tide of initiatives is spilling into election-year politics.

Women have been stuck at low rates of apprenticeships for decades. The government is now working to expand this vital on-the-job training to new industries and this time we should make sure women don’t miss the boat.

To give credit where it is due, some companies such as Avon have been giving to girls and women for a long time. But for the most part, corporations lag way behind. Here are four ways to close the “giving gap.”

“None of us have put our brushes down,” a pioneering donor told a recent gathering “You paint until you can’t.” Now she is energized by “bringing younger and younger women into philanthropy.”

The plays that wind up getting performed emerge from group storytelling and are a form of people’s theater. “This is a way to help household workers to stand up and make their voices heard,” says the group’s founder. “This is what I want.” Translation assistance by Yuan Ye.

Automation is changing the nature of work in ways that some compare to the industrial revolution. That’s causing some concern about the fate of low-paying service sectors where women dominate.

Divorced women who deferred their education to put husbands through school or moved multiple times to enable their husbands to move up the career ladder are at special risk. So are those who gave up jobs to raise children.

These work options are a win-win for businesses and also the key to inviting some of the most highly educated and underutilized candidates back into the workforce.