If only we women really understood how powerful our voices are, we could accomplish amazing things. It is truly the greatest paradox. MediaPost recently reported that we account for 85% of all consumer purchases. That’s power. Meanwhile, in the workplace, we still earn only 77 cents on the dollar of what men earn. How are we letting our power get so reversed? We aren’t using our voices.

While we control the purchasing power, the companies we purchase from are controlled primarily by men. Only 3.8% of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women and only 16.1% of their boards of directors seats are occupied by women.

So, what to do? Buying power can be used in many ways. First, we need to be sure that the companies we invest with have women sitting on their boards of directors…making decisions…watching our backs. That’s a great way to use our buying power.

We need to pay attention to the working conditions of women at our favorite business places. If we read that they discriminate against women, or that they aren’t appropriately disciplining executives for harassing women, or that they don’t promote women to senior management, it’s time move on. We need to take our 85% somewhere else, just keep on driving (or clicking) to the next store or place of business. We can use our consumer power to say that these practices simply are not okay with us. Remember, when we stand up for one woman, we stand up for all women.

Our power, our voice, comes with each decision that we make. That’s how we make a difference, one voice, one change at a time.

Susanne Dupes, ABC, APR is host of the Women’s Leadership Salon and president of the Dalton Dupes Agency. The Salon meets monthly to explore how women can begin to solve issues like closing Knoxville, Tennessee’s 38% wage gap. More information at http://daltondupes.com/w/