For Lindiwe, A thriving business means an opportunity to give back to young women in her zimbabwe community.

Gender equality means giving people equal access to rights and opportunities, regardless of their gender identity or expression.

Gender equity means allocating resources based on the needs of individuals (rather than to everyone equally) without gender bias or discrimination.

At Kiva, we believe in gender equity not only for women, but for people of all gender identities and expressions — transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, questioning, transitioning, and more — inclusive of all people. We recognize that expanding access to resources equally is not enough to fix the inequalities faced by people who have been historically and socially denied access to opportunities on the basis of gender. Kiva advocates for gender equity as a vehicle for achieving greater gender equality worldwide, with over 80% of our loans going to women.