We are delighted to share the ‘How to Invest With A Gender Lens?’, a guide created by Value for Women. The guide offers multiple concrete pathways for investors who want to keep inclusion at the core of their efforts in these important times of Covid-19 pandemic.
Gender lens investing is the deliberate incorporation of gender factors into investment analysis and decisions to improve social and business outcomes. More specifically, for the purpose of this Guide, gender lens investing refers to the actions and processes that investors develop to intentionally invest in businesses and/or solutions that: provide products and services that intentionally seek to close gender gaps or that are designed to meet the specific needs of women or girls, promote gender diversity in the workforce through the implementation of progressive internal policies and practices, and strengthen the way business models reflect inclusion and diversity across operations, and/or provide specific support and opportunities for women and women-led businesses (WLBs) in their value chain (e.g. women sales agents, distributors and suppliers).
The guide offers entry points for investors at any stage in their gender lens investing journey, as well as opportunities for decisive action that can be taken at any stage of the investment process. It takes a deeper look at what Value for Women see as three key entry points to gender lens investing, namely providing capital to women-led and gender-forward businesses, applying a gender lens across the investment process, and advancing gender diversity in the investment firm itself. For each of these entry points, the guide offers several steps investors can take, and is rich with examples from the field to bring these to life.
