From the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). The ANDE Brazil chapter and the IDS created a joint knowledge brief to share lessons and innovations from the Brazilian ecosystem on bringing a gender lens to supporting Brazilian SGBs. It focuses on four key topics to catalyse thought leadership on gender inclusion and investing in Brazil: understanding biases; recognising gender "intersects" with diversity issues; linking to investors; and attracting and retaining women in entrepreneur support programs.

From the Kellogg Foundation. This report seeks to expand the narrative associated with advancing racial equity by adding a compelling economic argument to the social justice goal. Beyond an increase in economic output, advancing racial equity can translate into meaningful increases in consumer spending and federal, state, and local tax revenues, and decreases in social services spending and health-related costs.

From the CFA Institute. This report asks: Why is the industry stuck when it comes to diversity and inclusion (D&I)? What can be done to change it? What is working and what isn’t when it comes to recruiting, promoting, and retaining top talent? How do firms attract a diverse candidate pool and successfully recruit diverse candidates? What does an “inclusive” work culture look like? Have we moved beyond D&I as a “check the box” initiative?

From Cambridge Associates. Many institutional investors have long sought to promote social equity through grant making and other philanthropic endeavours. With the field of impact investing maturing, these institutions are now increasingly seeking investment solutions to accomplish the same goal. Yet this effort raises important questions: What is social equity investing? What does it look like in practice? And how do social equity investments fit in a portfolio?

In this paper Cambridge Associates review the current state of social equity in the United States, highlight eight core social equity issue areas, and discuss the lessons we’ve learned in constructing portfolios with these investments.

From Confluence Philanthropy. It’s About Time: A Call to Advance Racial Equity in the Investment Industry shares what Confluence Philanthropy heard from diverse investment managers in a yearlong listening journey. That exploration culminated in a racial equity track with the appropriate theme of Truth and Transparency at Confluence Philanthropy’s 9th Annual Practitioners Gathering in March 2019. This report also recommends ways investors can begin embracing racial equity in the investment process. In addition, it invites you to join in the Confluence commitment to welcome, honour, and uphold the very premise of diversity–a core component of any well-balanced investment portfolio.

From Cornerstone Capital Group. Wealth inequality among racial and ethnic groups in the United States results from structural racism dating to the beginning of the republic. Investors can contribute to the narrowing of economic disparities through a dedicated emphasis on investing in underserved minority communities.

Household wealth underpins financial security. By transferring wealth from parents and grandparents to children, families fund the foundations of prosperous lives and communities: quality education, business formation, and home ownership. Inequality persists across generations in part because people of color earn (on average) less income and possess a fraction of the household wealth of white communities, hampering their ability to provide these advantages to the next generation.

Investors interested in using their capital to promote racial and ethnic equality should consider how they may help create durable household wealth for people of color. The authors suggest investment approaches that can contribute to solutions to three of the main current components of wealth inequity: 1) income inequality; 2) access to affordable housing; and 3) access to capital.

From Robeco. RobecoSAM researchers measured the contribution of women in the workplace as part of analysis of a dataset of over 20,720 observations collected through the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment from 2013-2018.

The SAM CSA is an annual assessment which uses a scoring methodology to assess the environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics of the companies taking part. Gender equality is measured using a variety of metrics, beyond counting the number of women who serve on the company’s board.

On the face of it, the results were only mildly encouraging at first. An increase in gender diversity on corporate boards was a positive finding, but the increase at management level was minimal, rising from 24% in 2013 to 26% in 2018. Furthermore, data for the total workforce over the same time period shows little change.

But then drilling down into the data using regression analysis, the research looked at the presence of women at different corporate levels, and the link with firm fundamentals. Dividing the data into quantiles enabled confirmation of the link between financial performance at every level: corporate board, management and total workforce.

From the World Bank. This report finds that while important progress toward gender equality has been made in the past decades, inequalities linked to gender norms, stereotypes, and the unequal distribution of housework and childcare responsibilities persist. Lifetime events such as marriage and parenthood bring substantial changes in time use among women and men. This paper updates and reinforces the findings of previous studies by analyzing gender differences in the allocation of time among market work and unpaid domestic work. Results from the analysis of time use patterns in 19 countries of different income levels and from various regions suggest that women specialize in unpaid domestic and care work and men specialize in market work. The paper employs propensity score matching to assess the marriage and parenthood "penalty" on time use patterns over the lifecycle. The findings indicate that women of prime working age are the most penalized on a host of measures, including labor market participation, unpaid domestic work, and leisure time. Men are not necessarily penalized for, and sometimes benefit from, marriage or parenthood.

From Oxfam. Across Africa, ambitions to achieve inclusive and sustainable development are being undermined by inadequate investment in the care economy. Women and girls are providing millions of hours of unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) – a provision which props up the economy and underpins society, yet remains under-recognized, undervalued and under-invested in.

While inattention to care policy and the unequal distribution of UCDW has stalled gender equality in every country globally, this brief focuses on the specific barriers that UCDW creates for sustainable development in Africa. It explains how investing in quality, accessible and affordable public services and infrastructure in Africa can address heavy and unequal UCDW and unlock progress across multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The brief draws on research and programming experience from Oxfam’s Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-Care) programme. Active since 2014, the programme addresses UCDW as a key driver of gender inequality and is implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the Philippines. This paper draws on WE-Care initiatives in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, and presents evidence-based solutions from these five countries to address UCDW across the continent.

From Oxfam and Unilever. Oxfam and Unilever have joined forces to share complementary learning and insights gleaned from working on unpaid care and domestic work with communities and consumers around the world, and with businesses and brands to share emerging good practice and evidence.

From OECD. Using time use data, this policy brief analyses the impact of gender gaps in time devoted to unpaid care activities on gender gaps in labour outcomes.

1. The first section provides an overview of gender inequalities in caring responsibilities.

2. The second section shows that gender inequalities in unpaid care work are related to gender gaps in labour outcomes, such as labour participation, wages and job quality.

3. The third sections assesses the key role of discriminatory social institutions for understanding gender inequalities in unpaid care work.

4. Finally, the fourth section proposes policy recommendations to lift the constraints on women’s time by both reducing the burden of unpaid care work borne by women as well as redistributing the caring responsibilities between women and men, and between the family and the State.

From IFC. A key barrier to female labour force participation is the lack of access to childcare. Recognizing the impact that childcare provision has on women’s employment, countries such as Brazil, India, and Jordan have unveiled policies requiring companies to provide childcare options. Even when not driven by regulatory compliance, companies can support childcare and reap business benefits. Much has been written about the need for investment in childcare, yet there is a dearth of information on what companies can do to address their employees’ childcare needs and how companies might benefit as a result.

This report highlights innovative approaches that companies across sectors and regions have taken to better meet their employees’ childcare needs. Featuring 10 case studies, the report shows how companies can choose from a range of childcare options, from on-site crèches to partnerships with governments and local childcare providers. As a result, companies can better attract and retain qualified staff—helping boost employee productivity and strengthening the bottom line.

From GrOW/McGill. This policy brief presents results of a CBA of the subsidized childcare project. Since information about the monetary value of benefits (mothers’ earnings and day care fees saved) is available only for the year that the project was executed, results pertain to the monetization of benefits for this period. Costs include day care fees, cash transfers and expenditures on training and material. Regarding benefits, they can be observed at the child level, the mother level and the sibling level. The monetization of benefits is generally challenging due to the limitations of available data. Thus, the authors provide a monetary value to benefits only in the case they are easily identifiable using data collected during the survey.

Key findings:

• Mothers who used subsidized childcare services experienced an increase in their earnings and free time.

• Attending day care may increase children’s future earnings and life expectancy.

• Subsidized childcare may increase school enrollment for older siblings.

• The benefits associated with providing subsidized early childcare outweigh the costs.

From GrOW/McGill. In this study, researchers tested whether access to affordable and improved-quality day care influenced women’s labor market engagement in Korogocho slum in Nairobi, through the evaluation of a randomized control trial (RCT) with three study arms. Mothers in two of the study arms were given vouchers for subsidized center- based ECC for one year. To examine whether the quality of child care centers affected women’s use of ECC services, about half of the day cares participating in the voucher program were randomly selected to receive additional provider training and materials such as mattresses, potties, toys, and hand-washing stations.

Key findings

• Mothers were eager to send their children to early child care centers.

• Mothers who received subsidized child care were 17% more likely to be employed than mothers who did not.

• Working mothers who received subsidized child care were able to work on average five fewer hours per week than those who did not, without any loss to their earnings.

• Subsidizing child care helped mothers to both find and maintain employment.

• Cost, more so than concerns over quality, is the main barrier to women accessing center-based child care.

From GrOW/McGill. This study takes an in-depth look at the strategies mothers in poor, urban African settings use to reconcile their responsibilities of child care and paid work. The results point to several main conclusions.

• Combining work and child care is difficult, if not impossible, without compromising productivity or the safety of children.

• Relying on family members to assist with child care is not a viable or preferable option for most working mothers.

• Centre-based child care is perceived as offering key advantages to mothers and their children.

• The main barrier to centre-based child care is user costs

From the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Analysis by Dalberg which explores links between unpaid care work and women’s economic empowerment in LMICs.

From Dalberg. This article makes the case for valuing women and girls' unpaid care work in the home, by recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid care work. The findings are derived from Dalberg's on-going work on this topic. Since 2016, Dalberg have built a database of global time use across 75+ countries, conducted a literature review of over 100 articles and reports, and interviewed over 60 experts.

By Professor Marian Baird and Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill. Analysis from a rapid but extensive literature review around the impacts of COVID-19 and previous pandemics and recessions on women’s economic position. This includes analysis on actual and potential impacts in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam, and risks and opportunities looking ahead.

This report was completed by Professor Marian Baird and Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill from the University of Sydney, and funded by Investing in Women.

From Domini Impact Investments LLC. Join 336 (at time of writing) responsible investors worth $9.2T in signing this Investor Statement to Coronavirus Response.

From iADB. The WX Insights Report 2020: The Rise of Women Entrepreneurs summarises the profiles, needs and challenges of women entrepreneurs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region.

The purpose of this report is to identify the main characteristics of women entrepreneurs in STEM fields, and compare them with their non-STEM peers across LAC.

Since the release of IDB’s WeGrow 2013, LAC has been witnessing a significant improvement in high-impact women entrepreneurship , with more women entrepreneurs creating and growing companies in STEM areas. As a matter of fact, 81% of the STEMpreneurs surveyed in this study started their businesses in the past five years.