One of the most effective ways to empower a group is to help them get finance.Yes, money.Whether it be women, minority groups etc.Without economic independence, freedom is a hoax

Intellectual freedom depends upon material things. (...) Women have had less intellectual freedom than the sons of Athenian slaves. Women, then, have not had a dog's chance of writing poetry. That is why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one's own