The GIIN’s gender lens investing resource repository is a curated set of publications and online resources designed to demonstrate the business and impact case for gender lens investing.
The repository includes research, case studies and other online resources to provide a knowledge hub for impact investors actively integrating or interested in integrating a gender lens strategy into their investment portfolio. It will be updated as new resources become available.
The repository is a resource created under the GIIN’s Gender Lens Investing Initiative and Working Group, and made possible by the support of Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian Government, and BNY Mellon.
Interested in sharing a resource for consideration? Contact GIIN Member Services at networkmembership@thegiin.org.
Investing with the intent to address gender issues or promote gender equity, including by:
And/or investing with the following approaches to inform investment decisions:
Source: The Landscape for Impact Investing in Southeast Asia, GIIN 2018
These resources help make the business and impact case for why investing in gender equality and diversity is smart investing.
2016
In their report, Women and Social Enterprises: How Gender Integration Can Boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Poverty, Acumen identifies five reasons why integrating gender could give fast growing and innovative social enterprises a powerful edge in growing their business and enhancing social performance.
2017
This joint report by BNY Mellon and the United Nations Foundation explores the market potential of advancing gender equality.
2018
Analysis of Calvert Impact Capital’s private debt portfolio revealed a strong relationship between gender diversity in leadership positions and financial performance. The report also shares practical guidance and tools for creating a gender inclusive investment strategy.
2018
This paper presents a review of gender equality and its impact on economic growth, as well as how investors can positively impact gender imbalances via their portfolio management choices.
2016
This follow-on bi-annual report to their 2014 study "The Credit Suisse Gender 3000: Women in Senior Management" reaffirms its prior findings that companies with a higher participation of women in decision-making roles continue to generate higher market returns and superior profits.
2020
As gender lens investing celebrates its 10-year anniversary, many individuals, family offices, endowments, and foundations are arguing for "gender lens 2.0" – the evolution of investment strategies that consider more granular corporate features like pay equity reports, parental leave policies and management training programs. Under the premise that serious efforts to advance gender equity require a more robust scorecard, this paper evaluates the relationship between performance and five dimensions of gender equity: Women in Leadership, Access to Benefits, Pay Equity, Diverse Supply Chains, and Talent and Culture. By discussing the emerging evidence — while recognizing the challenges — we hope to answer questions investors may have about gender lens investing and its potential to accelerate change not only for women but for everyone.
2014
This easy-to-reference resource compiles data points and evidence that help build the business case for gender diversity.
2019
This paper offers information regarding the business opportunity that gender lens investing presents in Latin America and the Carribean, and makes the case that investing with a gender focus can generate a financial return as well as contributing decisively to advancing gender equality.
2017
This report features nine detailed case studies that demonstrate how IFC clients and partners have achieved results by integrating women and men more equally as leaders, employees, entrepreneurs, and customers.
2019
This study explores the link between financial returns and gender diversity; the lack of women in the industry; and steps needed to achieve gender balance. One of the key findings of the report is that private equity and venture capital funds with gender-balanced senior investment teams generated 10% to 20% higher returns compared with funds that have a majority of male or female leaders.
2020
The Guide is a practical step-by-step road map for fund managers on how to strengthen gender diversity within their own firms and incorporate a gender focus into investment operations. It combines learnings from CDC and IFC’s experience with over 160 fund managers and draws on best practices with a series of case studies from stakeholders across the industry.
2016
This paper examines the link between gender diversity in senior corporate positions and financial performance of two million companies in Europe. Results show a positive association between corporate return on assets and the share of women in senior positions and establish two potential channels through which gender diversity may affect firm performance.
2018
This report, through economic and financial studies, makes the case that achieving gender equality is a good thing for everyone, including for business and investors.
2015
This report finds that as much as US$12 trillion, or 11 percent, in annual 2025 GDP could be added by advancing gender equality, and identifies six types of interventions necessary to bridge the gender gap.
2015
This article is adapted from the report Diversity Matters, which was re-released in February 2015. Their latest research finds that companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians.
2017
Through this brief guide, Morgan Stanley introduces its research findings and makes the case that more gender diversity, particularly in corporate settings, can translate to increased productivity, greater innovation, better decision-making, and higher employee retention and satisfaction.
2016
This primer seeks to clarify the range of approaches and opportunities available for investors to successfully integrate gender diversity criteria into an investment portfolio.
2016
2016
This global survey of 21,980 firms from 91 countries reveals the relative dearth of women in high leadership positions and suggests that the presence of women in corporate leadership positions may improve firm performance. The results found no impact of board gender quotas on firm performance, but they suggest that the payoffs of policies that facilitate women rising through the corporate ranks more broadly could be significant.
2015
In this paper, RobecoSAM analyzes the largest companies around the world and finds that there is inequality across all industries in terms of gender representation, pay and promotion. They suggest that companies with a more diverse and equal workforce are better positioned to outperform, however with the caveat that further research would be needed to better understand the drivers and the underlying reasons.
2015
This policy brief explores the business case for supporting inclusive business models and gender-balanced staffing, and examines how to operationalize gender diversity into an organization’s culture by providing steps that ecosystem actors can take across a range of industries and contexts.
2015
This second edition white paper highlights the key benefits of gender lens investing to women and girls as well as investors, and explores the state of the field and the exciting, evolving array of investing possibilities.
These select resources provide guidance on how to incorporate gender considerations into an investment strategy as well as how to measure the impact of a GLI strategy.
2018
This guide shares Acumen’s approach to getting beyond the standard practice of counting heads to understanding the “how” and “why” of gender impact, and provides preliminary insights from two out of five projects that have used the tool. Lean Data is a social impact measurement approach that prioritizes the use of technology (principally mobile phones) to gather quick, robust, actionable feedback and self-reported outcomes data at a fraction of the cost of other approaches. The report is meant as a preview of the full report that Acumen will be publishing in early 2019.
2018
The report offers a three-step process to developing a gender-inclusive investment strategy, including two tools developed by Calvert Impact Capital: the first framework to help investors integrate gender into their investment strategy based on the type of capital they have, and the second framework to provide basic guidance for incorporating gender into the underwriting process.
2018
Following a standard investment cycle, this tool supports the design of an investment strategy with considerations for how gender dynamics might present risks and opportunities. It provides a framework to consider building a gender lens into new or existing strategies to inform investment strategy or in diligence, and can be used by anyone looking to develop a gender lens investing strategy – from foundations, to women’s funds, to investors across asset classes.
2015
This paper applies the Total Portfolio Activation framework to help mission investors maximize their social and environmental impact across their entire portfolios and to generate positive benefits for women and girls. It presents concrete examples of leading opportunities, as well as a variety of case studies of investors, funds, and initiatives that integrate gender considerations into their investment activities.
This primer explores the link between value creation and gender diverse companies; highlights the rising trend of colleges and universities moving towards mission-aligned investing; and outlines a diverse range of tools and investment strategies available to decision-makers as they consider the integration of gender lens products in college and university endowments.
2018
The Navigating Impact project helps investors select impact strategies under specific themes, and adopt metrics that indicate performance toward their goals. The Gender Lens theme includes strategies for both gender goals internal to an investee business (gender equitable pay, gender-diverse governance and leadership, etc.) and broader gender impacts external to investee businesses (access to housing for women and LGBTQ individuals, women’s empowerment through clean cookstoves, etc.). A link to a live demo of the Navigating Impact project Gender Lens theme can be found here.
2021
This brief captures information on the tools and approaches used by members of the G-SEARCh consortium for designing and implementing gender-smart technical assistance for small and medium enterprises to improve their social and financial performance. This brief should be helpful for those in the gender lens investing and broader investing community who are interested in understanding and applying similar types of tools and approaches, as well as for entrepreneurs looking to implement gender inclusive strategies across business functions. Please stay tuned for more resources as the initiative progresses and feel free to contact Yaquta Fatehi at yaquta@umich.edu for questions.
2018
The Gender-Smart Investing Resource Hub allows investors to explore gender opportunities, screen potential investments through a gender lens, and advise companies on how to better integrate gender through their operations and supply chains. The Hub also houses gender materiality maps to highlight where gender is financially material (or not) in the particular sector, and social impact visuals to understand what impacts can be expected when integrating a gender lens in different areas.
2018
The Gender Equality Mainstreaming (GEM) Framework is a practical manual and toolkit for assessing gender equality, and identifying, implementing and measuring gender equality mainstreaming strategies within companies. The framework is designed for organizations seeking financial and impact returns through investing (e.g., private equity funds, government donors, foundations) or providing support to companies (e.g., accelerators, technical assistance providers, NGOs).
2019
The Gender Equality Mainstreaming (GEM) self-assessment assists companies to identify viable opportunities that improve women’s inclusion in business operations while promoting business growth and increased opportunities for investment.
2020
The Gender Equality Scorecard© (“GES”) Manual is the collective effort built upon SEAF’s work on the GES©, a tool SEAF developed to assess women’s economic empowerment and gender equality within growth-orientated small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”). The GES© can provide companies, organizations and/or investment funds with a due diligence and gender lens investing tool to calculate a consistent and comparable gender equality score. The GES© Manual provides clear guidance on how to objectively assessing a company and its level of commitment to gender equality through 24 gender equality performance indicators and utilizing the assessment result for designing a gender action plan.
2018
Aimed at investors and other development practitioners, this toolkit highlights the potential of using finance to impact and empower adolescent girls and young women in emerging markets. The toolkit is based on the work of SPRING and four years of experience in running its accelerator for girls and young women impact ventures in East Africa and South Asia. Case studies appear throughout the toolkit to illustrate investor approaches, business mindsets, lessons learned, and implementation of planning and investment strategies.
2018
In 2016, the Shell Foundation and Value for Women piloted a business-first, holistic approach to gender inclusion across SME operations and clean energy value chains. This report summarizes the findings from the pilot, namely that by investing in gender inclusion, business can generate opportunities for women while also furthering their business objectives.
2017
The Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool (WEPs Tool) is a business-driven tool designed to help companies from around the world assess gender equality performance across the workplace, marketplace, and community.
Below are some of the influencers, as well as rankings and lists of funds/products that are helping to shape and build the gender finance ecosystem.
The “2X Challenge” calls for the G7 and other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to join together to collectively mobilize $3 billion to investing in women.
Launched in 2018, the Collaborative consists of 14 DFIs plus the European Investment Bank (EIB), and supports the development of shared financing principles, definitions and methodologies that promote the integration of “gender smart” decision-making into their investment processes and operations.
EMPEA, the global industry association for private capital in emerging markets, launched the association's first industry initiative aimed at addressing the gender gap in emerging market private equity in 2018. The Working Group leverages the convening power of the organization's 300 member firms, including both general partners and limited partners, who invest in more than 130 countries worldwide and represent over US$5 trillion in assets.
Developed by Tara Health Foundation, Nexial, and Suzanne Biegel, this interactive map presents a comprehensive picture of the actors, tools, initiatives, and types of capital that comprise the gender finance system, as well as the barriers to and leverage points for systemic change.
Organized as the world’s first global summit focused on gender-smart investing in 2018, the Summit launched as a platform to forge partnerships, unlock barriers, pool resources, and drive action by amplifying individual and organizational commitments all to deploy capital in a gender-smart way.
The Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) is a network of 150 college and university endowment staff, CIOs, trustees, and other fiduciaries can learn about endowment investing for a thriving, sustainable economy for the next generation. It launched a working group focused on gender lens investing in 2018.
The Billion Dollar Fund (TBDF) is an initiative by the Global Funders Consortium for Women, focused on mobilizing $1bn for women entrepreneurs globally. In Phase 1, The Founders and a network of partners launched a campaign "The Billion Dollar Fund Campaign" to mobilize a global consortium of Blended Finance Partners that commit to an incremental goal to accelerate access to funding for, and expand the resources available to, women entrepreneurs and women-founded and -led companies. In Phase 2, investors will be asked to re-invest their initial investment plus 50% of net profits in women-founded businesses. The cycle will be repeated until a total of $1 billion incremental dollars have been invested.
2019
As many as 70% of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in the formal sector in emerging economies are un-served or underserved by financial service providers – a financing gap of around 285 billion USD. This study, commissioned by the DGGF – financing local SMEs, was designed to identify where and how DGGF is currently reaching female entrepreneurs and to gain an understanding of what capital providers (institutional investors and fund managers) can do to better serve female entrepreneurs’ financial needs. The intention is to help DGGF and the sector move forward with solutions that address the financing gap for female entrepreneurs.
A searchable database to compare mutual funds based on their gender-lens score and financial performance.
A global scan of public market investment vehicles
A global scan of private market funds
What is the GIIN’s Gender Lens Investing Initiative?
Launched in October 2017, the GIIN’s Gender Lens Investing Initiative supports impact investors, who are actively integrating, or interested in integrating, a gender lens strategy into their investment portfolio. Through the collective learnings and outputs of member-driven activities, the GLI Initiative aims to build a compelling case for gender lens investing, and ultimately, to increase investor adoption of effective gender lens strategies in deploying investment capital. Further information about the Initiative can be found here.
Sign-up to receive our newsletter and announcements about the latest impact investing news, events, and GIINsights
