From the Government of Canada. We, the Gender Equality Advisory Council, know that everyone benefits when girls and women are safe, healthy, educated, heard, and empowered to make decisions about their own lives. But gender inequality persists in every society, and progress for girls and women remains too slow, uneven, and subject to reversal. Today, G7 leaders have a unique opportunity to respond to the growing movements of girls and women raising their voices around the world with concrete commitments, new investments and measurable targets to advance gender equality. We call on G7 leaders to adopt and implement the recommendations in our full report.

From Value for Women. This Paper complements Papers #1 (“Gender Inclusion for Climate-Smart Agribusinesses: A practical framework for integrating gender in climate-smart agriculture”) and #2 (“Influencing and Advocacy for Gender-Inclusive Climate-Smart Agriculture: A guide for small and growing agribusinesses”), and aims to provide tangible reference points for businesses interested in taking a gender-inclusive approach to their CSA work. The examples showcased in this Paper are intended to inspire and support SGABs to adopt the gender-inclusive practices outlined in Papers #1 and #2. Recognising that gender, business, and CSA are mutually reinforcing, the examples presented primarily focus on business-level impacts, rather than those at the producer or environmental level (i.e. profit rather than people or planet).

From Calvert Impact Capital. This seminal paper on gender-lens investing shares practical guidance for creating a gender inclusive investment strategy, learned from evolving the authors’ own gender-lens investment approach:

• Set realistic expectations based on the type of capital you are investing. This, more than anything, practically defines the opportunities that are available to you to invest for impact and the approach you can take to incorporate gender

• Understand the tools at your disposal. The tools to incorporate gender into investment decision-making and analysis vary based on the type of capital and the level of influence and ownership that capital affords the investor

• Gender-lens investing is an art, not a science, and context matters. Gender’s role in investing is nuanced and success looks different depending on the context (e.g., market, geography, sector, etc.)

Incorporating gender into investment analysis might be the quickest route to better performing investments and a more equitable and sustainable world. There’s no one, right way to incorporate gender into your investments. It’s not rocket-science, it’s not niche. It has the potential to improve both financial performance and social impact. In short, it’s just good investing, so get started today.

From the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Gender equality and equity are matters of fundamental human rights and social justice - and prerequisite for fully realizing environmental goals. This Resource Center supports the goals and delivery of numerous projects focused on advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout natural resource management activities. Housing knowledge platforms and information hubs for specific gender and environment partnerships led by IUCN, this site is possible thanks to the generous support of USAID, SIDA and other partners.

Australians Investing In Women (AIIW)’s recent research report from Equity Economics makes a compelling case for the critical need to invest with a focus on women – not only because of the disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but because of the critical role women can play in driving our economic and social recovery.

AIIW commissioned this research to provide funders with analysis and distillation of existing research into the impacts of recent disasters on women. The purpose is to highlight key issues, and identify funding hotspots, where private and corporate giving can be targeted to help accelerate Australia’s economic and social recovery through a focus on women’s economic security, safety and wellbeing. From Australians Investing In Women.

By Dana Kanze, Laura Huang, Mark A. Conley, and E. Tory Higgins. A study of Q&A interactions between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at the annual startup funding competition TechCrunch Disrupt New York City found that venture capitalists posed different types of questions to male versus female entrepreneurs. They tended to ask men (promotion) questions about the potential for gains, and they tended to ask women (prevention) questions about the potential for losses. The difference in questioning explains much of why female entrepreneurs received five times less funding than their male counterparts.

A second experiment finds that the relationship between Q&A orientation and funding is causal. Entrepreneurs who were asked promotion questions received twice as much funding as those who were asked prevention questions.

Both studies also revealed an actionable silver lining: If entrepreneurs reframe their responses to prevention questions, they may be able to raise more funds.

By Paul Gompers and Silpa Kovvali. Researchers have struggled to establish a causal relationship between diversity and financial performance—especially at large companies, where decision rights and incentives can be murky, and the effects of any given choice can be tough to pin down. So the authors chose a “lab rat” with fewer barriers to understanding: the venture capital industry.

VC firms are fairly flat: Every investor is a decision maker, and choices have clear business consequences. Using publicly available information, researchers can see how similar or different decision makers are and compare decision quality on the basis of investments’ performance.

After examining tens of thousands of VC investments, Paul Gompers has found that diversity significantly improves financial performance on measures such as profitable investments at the individual portfolio-company level and overall fund returns. And even though associating with similar people can have social benefits for people who do so, it can lead investors and firms to leave a lot of money on the table.

In this article Gompers and Silpa Kovvali describe the research and provide recommendations for reaping the business benefits of diversity.

From Root Capital. Recognizing the impact of climate change on women and the important role of women in mitigating its effects, in 2019 Root Capital launched its first-ever climate resilience-focused Gender Equity Grants (GEGs) in Mexico and Central America. This report, prepared by Value for Women, examines the effectiveness and relative impact of this intervention. It also recommends best practices for investors, donors, and other organizations working to promote rural women’s climate resilience through agricultural enterprises.

From Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley’s second annual survey of venture capitalists reveals the intensified dialogue around racial inequality has captured investor attention and shifted their attitudes significantly. The increased focus on this issue is leading to investment strategies that include more actions to address disparities in funding for multicultural- and women-founded companies, which are well-documented for women and Black entreprenuers.

From Transform Finance. What would investment to communities look like if those very communities were part of the process? This report makes the case for grassroots engagement, participation, and governance over investments.

From FCDO/DIT and Palladium. Despite Black female entrepreneurs being one of the fastest growing entrepreneur groups in the US, they receive a disproportionately small amount of investment. In 2019, less than 9% of investment went to female founders, and less than 3% went to founders of color in the US. In the UK, only 0.5% of start-ups with Black founders received VC investment. Recent studies have shown the importance of diversity in building more equitable societies. Investment rates and current trends suggest Black Female Entrepreneurs’ (BFEs) fair access to investment resources requires attention. Despite Black female entrepreneurs being one of the fastest growing entrepreneur groups in the US, they receive a disproportionately small amount of investment. In 2019, less than 9% of investment went to female founders, and less than 3% went to founders of color in the US. In the UK, only 0.5% of start-ups with Black founders received VC investment.

Recent studies have shown the importance of diversity in building more equitable societies. Investment rates and current trends suggest Black Female Entrepreneurs’ (BFEs) fair access to investment resources requires attention.

The FCDO/DIT partnered with Palladium Impact Capital to conduct a market study examining the barriers to investment that BFEs experience in the UK and the US, and potential pathways to removing them.

From Glenmede. Racial equity investing seeks to advance racial equity and/or tackle racial inequities in the U.S. while generating financial returns. This investment strategy seeks to close racial disparities in wealth and access to opportunities, resources, and decision-making. Racial equity investing has powerful potential for impact because of its focus on revitalizing socioeconomically marginalized communities. At the same time, this investment strategy may help investors stay ahead of critical demographic trends, serve a growing consumer base, enhance risk management, and identify investment opportunities that can have unique sources of alpha.

From Pitchbook. In 2019, female-founded companies in the US closed more venture deals than ever before, raking in more than $20 billion across thousands of deals—significant improvement from a decade prior, wherein just $2.5 billion was invested across just under 600 financings. However, as the latest edition of the All In report series shows, the pandemic's onset put an abrupt halt to this upward trajectory. Reviewing the latest venture data, the report finds that female-founded companies in the US have seen a disproportionate drop in capital invested relative to the country's broader venture space.

The full report unpacks this stark reversal in depth, pulling in datasets spanning exits, industry and regions for greater context and richer nuance. In addition, it features Q&As with key industry players from Microsoft for Startups and Beyond The Billion, addressing related issues such as overall representation and how diversity contributes to improved outcomes for both companies and investors.

From the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC). Diverse-owned private equity firms continue to outperform their benchmarks, according to Examining the Returns 2019: The Financial Returns of Diverse Private Equity Firms, a study released by NAIC. Despite delivering consistent returns, diverse- and women-owned firms collectively manage only 1.3 percent of the investment industry’s $69 trillion in assets under management.

By Tracy Gray & Emilie Cortes. Foundations and impact investors need to face the ways they are complicit in perpetuating inequality through their capital allocations, and upend five structural investment barriers to better serve women and people of color. Tracy Gray and Emilie Cortes set out five structural barriers that foundation investors and investment committees can easily upend today in their due diligence process to improve outcomes for people of color—especially underrepresented Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people—and women.

From Work and Opportunitites for Women (WOW). We know very little about the millions of women working in global value chains, who grow the food we eat, make the clothes we wear and contribute to products we use every day. Despite being at the heart of global value chains, these women are quite literally invisible; hidden in plain sight. This invisibility prevents women from fully contributing to and benefiting from their productive work. What’s more, the lack of knowledge about this population of workers directly inhibits companies’ ability to make informed business decisions about their supply chains.

This brief is written for companies or practitioners engaging in global value chains, in particular those such as garments, agriculture and personal care, which rely heavily on women workers. It is also aimed at anyone looking to create safe and fair working conditions for all men and women workers.

From the International Finance Corporation (IFC). 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 percent to 20 percent higher returns compared with funds that have a majority of male or female leaders.

The report draws on gender diversity and performance data from more than 700 funds and 500 portfolio companies; survey results from over 500 fund managers and institutional investors; interviews with more than 50 investors and gender diversity experts; and case studies of more than 10 private equity and venture capital funds and institutional investors that are addressing the gender-imbalance in their own work. The report also gathers recommendations for fund managers and institutional investors to help move the industry towards gender balance.

From Power Africa. Women represent half of the world’s employment potential, yet they make up only 32 percent of the renewable energy sector workforce worldwide. In Africa’s off-grid energy sector, this discrepancy is especially acute, and problematic, as companies race to meet the workforce needs of a rapidly growing sector. PEG Africa (PEG) is a fast-growing, 400+ person company that provides solar-powered electricity solutions, called solar home systems (SHS), to customers in rural and remote parts of West Africa where the electricity grid does not reach. Small off-grid companies in Africa, such as PEG, must tackle an array of business-related challenges, and gender equality and women’s empowerment are not often prioritized. However, integrating gender-inclusive practices can both benefit business performance and increase social impact. Power Africa supports projects, programs and policies that strive to reduce gender inequalities and promote the effective engagement of both men and women in the energy sector. As part of its ongoing businessrelated support to PEG, Power Africa identified the opportunity to help the company implement strategic measures to increase internal gender equality and strengthen women’s economic opportunities.

From Criterion Institute. The research behind this paper examined power dynamics in the development of two fields, climate finance and gender lens investing. It provides a deeper analysis of the dynamics that have shaped the development of these fields and asks whether the fields have been disruptive enough. Developing field building strategies requires ongoing analysis of power dynamics in the systems that the field touches. How ideas develop and how fields advance are not neutral. Changing systems requires operating within the targeted system and engaging with the power dynamics of that system. There is no way to avoid this fully. To operate within the system and create changes requires engaging with the logic of the system itself and what drives it.

The thesis of this paper is that the awareness of power dynamics will lead to a more intentional design of field building efforts within gender lens investing and climate finance, thereby ensuring that these efforts are addressing and not needlessly calcifying and replicating existing dynamics and inequities in systems of finance.

From Adam Smith International. Private sector development (PSD) practitioners are increasingly pursuing strategies aimed at increasing income and economically empowering poor women. For programmes to credibly prove that these strategies impact poor women – and to improve this impact through adaptive design and delivery – monitoring and results management (MRM) systems must be capable of understanding differentiated gendered impact. Where MRM systems are truly gender-responsive, they serve a function beyond accurate sex-disaggregated results reporting, and are crucial in influencing programme design, for example, the effective identification and profiling of female target beneficiaries during scoping for sector selection (who tend conventionally to be ‘missed’ or misunderstood, particularly within male-headed households).

Nonetheless, a number of measurement challenges remain. Most pressing among these, is the lack of clarity on who to count as a beneficiary when measuring changes to income. Crucially, the different ways in which this is approached tell very different stories as to the gendered impact of a PSD programme.