Buycott Day

She Stops Shop­ping to Change the World
Tues­day, Octo­ber 19

What If women shut their purs­es and did­n’t shop for a day, would the econ­o­my suf­fer? The idea gets test­ed on Octo­ber 19 by 85 Broads, a net­work­ing group found­ed in 1999 by Janet Han­son, who worked for Gold­man Sachs — head­quar­tered at 85 Broad St., in New York City.

Busi­ness Week has recent­ly learned that 85 Broads is ask­ing its 4,000-plus mem­bers in 450 com­pa­nies, col­leges, and schools not to spend that day, and hope they spread the word. Han­son says the “buy­cott” will show the gap between wom­en’s pur­chas­ing pow­er and our under­rep­re­sen­ta­tion in board­rooms and exec­u­tive suites. Women con­trol $3.3 tril­lion in year­ly consumer
spend­ing — 44 per­cent of nation­al spend­ing — a sum that isn’t just sym­bol­ic. Accord­ing to Busi­ness Week, the U.S. econ­o­my has become increas­ing­ly female-dri­ven. In fact, women in the U.S. con­trol $3.3 TRILLION in annu­al con­sumer spend­ing; make 62 per­cent of all car pur­chas­es; take more than 50 per­cent of all busi­ness trips; and con­trol over 50 per­cent of the per­son­al wealth in this country?

Mark your cal­en­dars and tell your friends!