What about when it’s time to remodel your home, paint the bathroom, or even build a new home or office.  What do you consider then?

Construction has never been an industry dominated by women, but women are bringing innovation, consciousness, and relevance to the field.  Green Economy Post recently made a list of who they consider the top ten women in green building.

We found another to add to the list:

Sarah Beatty founded Green Depot – “a leading supplier of environmentally friendly and sustainable building products, services, and home solutions” – in 2005.  The flagship store on Bowery in Manhattan hosts a myriad of products, for all elements of living, and empowers consumers with options.

Beatty got the idea for the store when pregnant and fixing her kitchen floor.  Blown away by the toxicity of the paint and products, and horrified by the difficulty of getting more sustainable and “green” products, she took matters into her own hands and started a distribution point.  The company has grown from one store to include ten stores and seven distribution centers.

Women seek an in-depth understanding of what they choose – whether it’s when they buy a product or take a bite of a pie.  How do they know what they are getting?

Two non-profits organizations are making detailed info available at the snap of a camera-phone.  Consumers simply take an iPhone to the grocery store with the GoodGuide app or the (soon to launch) Citizen’s Market app, and scan item barcodes.  From home they can search deep databases online.  Profiles for the product and company pop up with ratings and descriptions for them.  On Citizens Market, consumers can upload reviews, and companies can join the conversation, too.

GoodGuide helps consumers “find safe, healthy, and green products” with a rating system that accounts for ingredients, production, and the behavior of the company that makes or harvests the products.  They use a combination of science, widely sourced documents, and algorithms to rate products and companies.  Environmental, social, labor practices, and health performance are measured.  Ratings are available for food, personal care, and household products ranging from baby food to frozen food, from shampoo to sunscreen, and beyond.  And the company is always adding to their list.

GoodGuide also offers tips for feeding kids veggies, reducing your carbon footprint, and news about health issues.

Citizens Market offers insight and an open-source conversation on the issues that companies support.  They empower consumers to shop their values – and vote on issues with their dollars.  Environmental practices, a company’s stance on gay marriage, animal rights policies, and more can be reviewed on the site.

Women who seek a deep understanding of what they are buying, and are loyal to brands that have credibly cultivated relationships with them, will find these sites useful.

For marketers and companies themselves, these sites present opportunity and challenges.  Bad reviews will clearly have negative consequences, but joining and following the conversation here will help build those real relationships through awareness and action. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with women who could become loyal consumers.

Both sites are still in beta and are welcoming feedback and questions.

With chicken coops and children in tow, this movement is made up of women who stay at home, with a new spin on being a housewife.

They are “feeding their families clean, flavorful food; reducing their carbon footprints; producing sustainably instead of consuming rampantly.” Some seek an anti-consumer lifestyle, as advocated by Shannon Haye’s book, the Radical Homemaker with communities sprouting in support.

The limitations on consumption and the consciousness present in the lifestyle and purchasing decisions these women are making may echo in the back-to-the-land movement, the influx of green and organic products, or seem extreme to some.  Fundamentally, though, “Femivores” and even “Radical Homemakers” resonate with the wider pattern in women’s consumption: taking control.

Women’s conscious consumption is not a trend or fad.  Women generally spend more time than men deciding what to buy or consume.  Recognizing this and empowering it is vital to building relationships with women consumers.

(Photo by Katherine Wolkoff/Art + Commerce, Courtesy of New York Times)

We just had to share this fantastic donor appeal letter by Andrew Marx, the communications director for Partners in Health, which has been working on the ground in Haiti for the more than 20 years (and is also a Fenton client).

The letter is textbook when it comes to connecting with women. Two reasons:

1. It highlights the positive. When you’re dealing with devastation of this scale, it can be difficult to talk about anything other than NEED. But the emotional core of Andrew’s letter – and why it compels you to cut that check – is when he describes how PIH’s partner, Zanmi Lasante, swiftly takes command of the situation – a powerful value for women:

Within 45 minutes, they had erected a large tent, filled most of it with tables and chairs for 20 consulting stations, created and stocked a small pharmacy and lab, and established an orderly system for checking patients in and sending them to the next available doctor. Over the next six hours, they saw and treated more than 500 patients.

Wow. Who wouldn’t want to support that?

2. It’s grounded in tangible details. You can literally feel the heat in the makeshift tent where Zanmi Lasante set up shop. These sensory details make the situation much more immediate– and the need for giving more urgent.

Below is the letter in its entirety. If you are moved to give, click here.

Dear Friends,

Less than a week ago, I reluctantly boarded a plane on the tarmac of the crippled Toussaint L’Ouverture Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to return to Boston.

The next morning, a colleague welcomed me back to the Partners In Health office with a question: “What adjectives would you use to describe your experience?” I came up with two: heartbreaking and inspiring.

“Heartbreaking” I had expected, even before I had boarded the plane to Port-au-Prince.

“Inspiring” was more of a surprise. But inspired is what I felt upon seeing our Haitian partner organization Zanmi Lasante spring into action, doing what they do best—what they’ve been doing for over 25 years—working in partnership with the residents of destitute communities to provide quality health care and essential social services.

A month after the earthquake, Haiti is now threatened by another devastating public health disaster—epidemics of infectious diseases and untreated chronic illnesses in squatter communities where tens of thousands of people are crowded together with no sanitation facilities and little access to clean water and food.

Early one morning under an already scorching sun, a team of about 50 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and lab technicians drove to an open field adjacent to one of these informal settlements—a patchwork shelters pieced together from tattered sheets of cloth, cardboard, and scraps of wood, with an estimated population of 40,000.

Within 45 minutes, they had erected a large tent, filled most of it with tables and chairs for 20 consulting stations, created and stocked a small pharmacy and lab, and established an orderly system for checking patients in and sending them to the next available doctor. Over the next six hours, they saw and treated more than 500 patients—children with coughs and diarrhea, adults with wounds and fevers, an elderly woman with diabetes who went into shock and was rushed to a hospital.

The compassion, skill, and dedication Zanmi Lasante exhibited was truly awe-inspiring. Especially when you consider that they are operating similar clinics regularly at four settlements around Port-au-Prince, and supporting surgical teams at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. All this is being done in addition to providing comprehensive health care at 12 facilities outside the city that were already serving a population of over 1 million people before the arrival of thousands of earthquake victims fleeing Port-au-Prince.

I cannot imagine feeling more humbled, more proud, or more privileged than I am to be able to contribute to the work of Zanmi Lasante. I hope that all of you who have supported Partners In Health and Zanmi Lasante at this critical time feel the same way.

With profound thanks,

Andrew Marx
Director of Communications
Partners In Health