Eastern Bank is aiming its corporate philanthropy efforts to address issues that disproportionately impact women.

The bank this morning announced that it will grant $1.7 million to 170 women-focused nonprofit organizations in communities from New Hampshire to Cape Cod and throughout the South Shore, North Shore, Metro West, Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston.

Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation’s Targeted Grant program annually supports hundreds of community-based organizations working for progress on a specific issue in Eastern’s New England footprint.

In celebration of the bank’s 200th anniversary this year and to honor its first depositor, Rebecca Sutton, Targeted Grants have been designated to support organizations addressing a range of issues that focus on helping women such as sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking, health care, pay equity, and senior management and board representation.

“We believe in breaking down the barriers that stand between people and prosperity. That’s why Eastern is a strong advocate for the advancement of women,” Bob Rivers, chairman and CEO of Eastern Bank, said in a statement. “With each Targeted Grant, we aim to enhance the lives of our neighbors and contribute to real progress around the advancement of women in our local communities. On behalf of everyone at Eastern, we congratulate this year’s Targeted Grant recipients and thank them for working to level the playing field.” 

This year’s Targeted Grant program creates new opportunities and resources for women in areas where assistance is needed the most. The facts are staggering, according a release from Eastern:

• A woman is assaulted every nine seconds in the U.S. and one in three women has been a victim of physical brutality by an intimate partner, making intimate partner violence the single greatest cause of injury to women.
• In Massachusetts, women earn 83 cents for every dollar paid to men. In New Hampshire, they earn 76 cents. African-American women nationwide earn 64 cents for every dollar earned by white men, and Latinas, only 56 cents.
• In the sciences, women represent less than 25 percent of those employed in computer and mathematical occupations and only 15 percent in architecture and engineering. For women of color, this gap is even wider. Asian women, African-American women, and Latinas make up less than 10 percent of working scientists and engineers in the U.S.
• Women receive more graduate degrees and they hold more faculty positions in colleges and universities, and yet, men hold the highest number of tenured university positions.
• Only 32 women run Fortune 500 companies and only two are women of color. Less than 20 percent of all board seats in Fortune 1,000 companies are held by women.

For a complete list of the 2018 Targeted Grant recipients, click here.