The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) are a set of Principles offering guidance to business on how to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community. Established by UN Global Compact and UN Women, the WEPs are informed by international labour and human rights standards and grounded in the recognition that businesses have a stake in, and a responsibility for, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

From ICMA. The Green Bond market aims to enable and develop the key role that debt markets can play in funding projects that contribute to environmental sustainability. The Green Bond Principles (GBP) promote integrity in the Green Bond market through guidelines that recommend transparency, disclosure and reporting. They are intended for use by market participants and are designed to drive the provision of information needed to increase capital allocation to such projects. With a focus on the use of proceeds, the GBP aim to support issuers in transitioning their business model towards greater environmental sustainability through specific projects.

From ICMA. The Social Bond market aims to enable and develop the key role that debt markets can play in funding projects that address global social challenges. Social Bonds are use of proceeds bonds that raise funds for new and existing projects with positive social outcomes. The Social Bond Principles (SBP) promote integrity in the Social Bond market through guidelines that recommend transparency, disclosure and reporting. They are intended for use by market participants and are designed to drive the provision of information needed to increase capital allocation to social projects without any single arbiter.

Launched by national governments that then partner with public and private companies, the Gender Equality Seal (GES) works towards eliminating gender inequalities in the workplace, while at the same time improving the lives of all employees and their families. Increasingly, the Seal represents a company strategy that equates striving for gender equality with good business. With 1400 public and private companies in 11 countries engaged in the Gender Equality Seal — and many more expected to participate — this innovative programme has taken off in Latin America

In this report, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) undertakes a comprehensive attempt to date to estimate the size of the economic potential from achieving gender parity and to map gender inequality. Using 15 indicators of gender equality in 95 countries, they identify ten “impact zones”—concentrations of gender inequality that account for more than three-quarters of the women in the world affected by the gender gap—that they hope will help prioritise action.

In addition, MGI has developed a Gender Parity Score, or GPS, that gives a view of what will help to close the gender gap.

The IFC’s Investing for Impact: Operating Principles for Impact Management (the Principles) have been developed by a group of asset owners, managers, and allocators to describe essential features of managing investments into companies or organisations with the intent to contribute to measurable positive social or environmental impact alongside financial returns.

From Criterion Institute. This tool can be used by anyone looking to develop a gender lens investing strategy – from foundations, to women’s funds, to investors across asset classes. 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. This tool can be used to inform investment strategy or in diligence. Wherever you find yourself in your gender lens investing journey, we hope this tool helps expand imagination of what is possible in the field.

From Oxfam GB. This paper shares Oxfam GB's experience of developing an approach to measuring women's empowerment over the course of five years, for use in its series of Effectiveness Reviews. Oxfam's aim is for this to be an easy and practical guide which shares experience and lessons learned in order to support other evaluators and practitioners who seek to pin down this 'hard-to-measure' concept. The hope is that the reader will make use of the measurement tools presented in this paper as guiding instruments that can be adapted to their needs.

From Tribe. In this short paper, Tribe and Suzanne Biegel explore the rise of gender lens investment, its role in delivering the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (“Global Goals” or “UN SDGs”) and how to build a strategy that reflects an investor’s desire help make change happen. The authors draw on their collective experience to outline the different approaches that can be activated across a portfolio.

From MSCI. Attraction, retention, and promotion are the core elements of the employment cycle and key focus areas for any company looking to increase its effective utilisation of talent. While there are many ways that companies can support women’s participation and advancement in the workforce, the simplest and most straightforward measure of their effectiveness is to look at the percentage of women among various segments of the company’s workforce. In order to identify companies whose performance exceeds sector peers, we have developed a workforce gender diversity scoring methodology that allows for multiple possible metric inputs (based on disclosures).

From GEN. A B Lab for gender. Find out more about the certification and get certified, or view the GEN Index of equity-centred workplaces in the US.

From Equileap. Equileap’s global 2018 report measures how well companies do in offering equal gender opportunities based on 19 criteria, and presents the top 200 scorers.

From Calvert Impact Capital. This framework is built from Calvert’s experience as a lender, and highlights some basic questions that can be asked during the underwriting process. The framework is not an exact replica of Calvert’s processes and is not comprehensive. It’s meant to serve as an example, offering basic questions that can be a starting point for incorporating gender into an investment selection process. Questions must be refined and adapted based on experience and depending on the deal being reviewed.

From MEDA. 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 builds upon the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment standard by mainstreaming gender across ESG criteria.

Designed for organizations seeking financial and impact returns through investing or providing support to companies, the manual is applicable to a wide range of investors (e.g. private equity funds, government donors, foundations) and capacity builders (e.g. accelerators, technical assistance providers, NGOs). The ultimate aim of the framework is to transform companies to be more gender equitable while supporting business growth and impact.

From SEAF. The SEAF Gender Equality Scorecard© is a proprietary tool SEAF uses to assess women’s economic empowerment and gender equality within individual investment opportunities and portfolio companies for select SEAF funds.

From the UN Global Compact, UN Women, the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB, and IDB Invest. 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.

From Equal Measures 2030. The 2019 SDG Gender Index provides a snapshot of where the world stands, right now, linked to the vision of gender equality set forth by the 2030 Agenda. It measures the state of gender equality aligned to 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 129 countries in five regions and 51 issues ranging from health, gender-based violence, climate change, decent work and others. Overall, the index finds that, across all the goals and indicators studied, no country has fully achieved the promise of gender equality.

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 endowments. 

From BNY Mellon and the United Nations Foundation. The potential economic and development gains from gender equality are vast and well-documented — and yet they are currently being bypassed. This report explores the market potential of advancing gender equality.

From BNY Mellon. This report, a companion to the original Return on Equality publication, shines a spotlight on the opportunity to realise gains — in both gender equality and market returns — by increasing women’s financial inclusion around the world. Its aim is to inspire financial services providers to design and market products and services that fuel women’s full economic participation, and to encourage investors to steer their capital toward such companies.