On March 16, 2022, the Yunus Emre Institute USA (YEE) hosted the "#Network2win with Women Veteran for Turkish Coffee Cultural Hour of Power" with opening remarks by Gokhan Coskun, Executive Director at the YEE focused on the uniqueness of this event in fostering connections with women veterans and future collaborations.
Anjerrika Bean, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow at Howard University and Air Force Woman Veteran, and Rhonda Powell, CEO, Arlington Speakers Bureau, opened up the discussion by opening a lively discussion on the cultural challenges faced by women Veterans at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).
Women veterans are actively seeking cultural change. The discussion addressed the deep cultural divide between women Veterans and the Veteran community related to inadequate healthcare, invisibility by VA employees, providers, leadership, and sexual harassment incidents at various VA facilities. The topic diverged in a different path while revealing a major cultural issue that women Veterans face: the gender inequality wealth gap. How do we mitigate this issue?
The answer is to empower and educate women Veteran entrepreneurs for success and economic opportunities, primarily in the area of Federal Procurement. Government programs should be expanded to allow service members to participate and earn significant entrepreneurial skills by working with small businesses nationwide. Entrepreneurial assistance needs to be prioritized. The leaders of the interagency partnerships at play are urged to discuss the possibility of developing a conscious entrepreneurial training pathway to close the gender inequality wealth gap for women Veterans