Gender-lens Investing
Gender-lens investing is on the rise
Gender-lens investing is investing with the intent to address gender issues or promote gender equity. It means taking into consideration the participation, needs, realities, and leadership of both women and men in the strategy and process that informs investment decision-making.
The opportunity is huge—and growing. Today, the total value of private capital invested with a gender-lens is estimated to be more than $4.8B globally (up from $2.2B in 2018). And the growth of gender-lens strategies for stocks and bonds (public markets) surpassed $3.4B at the end of 2019 (rising from a total of $2.4B in 2018). That’s a market opportunity of over $8B globally, up from $4.6B in 2018.
Our gender-lens investment strategy is a model for how every single dollar attracted or invested by or with the Equality Fund in public and private funds can enable gender equality.
Driving systemic change
By helping to realize the full potential of gender-lens investing, the Equality Fund will drive the following system-wide outcomes:
Increasing women’s access to capital
Increasing women’s access to capital through investment in funds and companies that provide access to capital for previously overlooked populations;
Scaling products and services that advance gender equality
Scaling products and services that advance gender equality by investing in companies whose goods and services benefit girls and women;
Addressing structural inequities
Addressing structural inequities by investing in companies, firms, and funds which elevate women into decision-making and investment roles, with real agency to affect meaningful enterprise change.