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."

Why do even children's books reinforce negative stereotypes of women? Jacinta Bunnell and Julie Novak have teamed up to create coloring books that help girls take pride in themselves and turn away from gender stereotypes. Girls Are Not Chicks is a template for a gender-defiant new world.