As the podcast boom continues, Seneca Women and founding partner P&G have launched a new podcast network to amplify women’s voices globally.

The Seneca Women Podcast Network is a new women-led podcast network and app that will connect and amplify female voices around the globe. The network will produce original shows while providing a platform for the voices of established and emerging women leaders as well as organizations making a difference for women and girls.

The podcast industry is expected to be worth more than $1 billion by 2021, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC, and women account for nearly 50 percent of podcast listeners, yet women’s voices are underrepresented. With 2020 bringing the centennial of women’s suffrage in the US and the 25th anniversary of the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, the podcast network will be oriented toward fixing that imbalance.

“Technology—in particular, podcasting—provides a unique opportunity to fast-forward progress for women around the world,” said Kim Azzarelli, CEO and co-founder of Seneca Women. “We no longer need to travel by horse and buggy to advocate for women’s progress as our foremothers did, but the discovery and amplification of a diversity of women’s voices is still a significant gap that we can help address through the Seneca Women Podcast Network and app.”

Centered on the principles of power, purpose, and connection, the Seneca Women Podcast Network will produce and curate audio content on a diverse range of topics that showcase positive role models, practical insights, and shared learnings. The network builds on the Seneca Women’s foundation of thought leadership and its founders’ decades of experience in advancing women around the globe.

The organization debuted its first podcast series in 2019, Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose. Season one featured discussions from Seneca Women Forums at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with leaders including Andrea Jung; CEO of Coca-Cola James Quincey; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus; Chelsea Clinton; and Valerie Jarrett, former adviser to President Barack Obama, among others.

“Media can be a powerful force for good, and the Seneca Women Podcast Network offers the opportunity to reinvent media with innovative, positive, and quality content. It’s time to ensure that the voices of women are finally and fully heard and amplified to help make the world a better and more inclusive place for all,” said Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, P&G.

“Since the Seneca Falls convention of 1848, women in the U.S. have been on a journey to equal rights. That journey continues here and for women around the world,” said Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Chair and co-founder of Seneca Women. “The recent Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum predicts it will take another 99 years for us to get to equality. We are launching the Seneca Women Podcast Network to accelerate women’s progress, as we believe, progress for women is progress for all.”

“We’ve partnered with Seneca Women for several years to change the narratives about women in the workplace and the world and shift the focus from ‘fixing the women’ to fixing the bias and systems that can hold women back,” said Carolyn Tastad, Group President – North America and Chief Sales Officer, P&G. “The Seneca Women Podcast Network provides an important new platform for conversations and content to help expose blind spots and embrace broader perspectives and solutions that can change the trajectory of gender equality and create a more equal world for everyone.”