Taboola, an open web recommendation platform, has launched #RecommendHER, a new global initiative to run during March 2021 that will provide $500,000 of free advertising on its network to women-owned businesses.

It is hoped the initiative will empower women-owned businesses to make a larger impact during Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day — two moments that celebrate women trailblazers across many categories, including business. It also comes at a critical time when there continues to be a disparity between female and male-owned businesses and their support structures:

Women own fewer businesses than men: Globally, 6.2% of women own long term businesses (those that have been in operation for more than 3 years), compared to 9.5% of men.

Women receive an average of $5,000 less when applying for business loans compared to men, according to Tabaloo, which stated that women are also more vulnerable to COVID-19–related economic effects: Female job loss rates due to COVID-19 are thught to be about 1.8 times higher than male job loss rates.

The #RecommendHER initiative will provide $500,000 in free advertising to selected women-owned businesses to use across Taboola’s network of more than 9,000 digital properties. These businesses will join more than 13,000 advertisers that are already tapping Taboola to reach 516 million daily active users on the Taboola network in a brand safe environment.

Adam Singolda, founder and CEO, Taboola, said: “International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month place an important spotlight on the challenges and inequality that exists in the business world for women. It is important for all of us to do more to help women-owned businesses thrive, especially at a time when over 4.6 million women in the US alone have become unemployed and been more negatively affected by the pandemic overall.

“At Taboola, we can play a small part by providing the platform, large reach and free advertising that can help accelerate the visions of these passionate and exciting businesses. We encourage others to take action in any way they can.”