Catherine S Barton, owner of Future Thinking Consulting was selected as one of the top finalist of the Ideagen/UN Empowering Women and Girls Summit in New York. The United Nations Challenge was to seek innovative solutions that promote gender equality while also increasing access to quality education and promoting health of women and girls throughout the world. The challenge had a worldwide effort of 482 international competitors with Catherine being in the top two. Ms. Barton, a PhD Candidate, devised a two stage solution that had both a psychological and physical framework. It demonstrated a measurable and actionable outcome while also being practical, economical and supported by scientific research. Her proposal was titled "Changing the Mindsets of Women so They Can Empower Themselves" and it focused on improving upon women's self-belief systems in developed and developing countries. 

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    Ms. Barton feels that women could be untethered to succeed if first they understood their worth and competencies. The first stage in her proposal was a cost-effective way to promote positive thinking amongst women by developing 52 diverse documentaries by using inspirational women. The second phase of the project was focused on technology, health, safety and poverty elimination. The proposal encouraged collaboration between the genders. Catherine Barton was honored to have the opportunity to share her solution with the highly respected Ideagen/UN community.