Friday, July 11, 2008 3:06 PM

When Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, she also became the first Nobel laureate to make the link between keeping peace and conserving the environment. "Indeed," said Maathai, "the state of any country's environment is a reflection of the kind of governance in place, and without good governance there can be no peace."

Friday, April 24, 2009 10:25 AM

A woman's body is both revered and feared in cultural traditions from East to West. It is immortalized as "pin-up girl" and simultaneously mystified as mother. A community of women in Nigeria, however, proved that a woman's body is enough to bring one of the largest oil companies to the bargaining table. When their words were not being heard, they made themselves be seen...by threatening to strip naked in public.

Friday, July 11, 2008 4:23 PM

Too often words like ignorant, impoverished and oppressed are used to describe women in the Global South. Collectively, Westerners tend to imagine these women as victims. Recent efforts to put economic resources in these women's hands have changed the way they experience and express their power. Governments, schools and civil society organizations alike have recognized that arming women with small loans, as well as helping them develop skills necessary to run their own businesses, benefits women, their families and their communities.

Below you will find profiles of five women who have benefited from microcredit loans. Their stories are part of a photography collection Women Empowered, Inspiring Change in the Emerging World. The photographer Phil Borges captured these photographs and stories for CARE's international campaign for women's economic empowerment. All five women speak of hope, power, leadership and agency and echo the affirmation that CARE strives to instill in women everywhere: "I am powerful."