Parallelle Finance
Gender Lens Investing
Gender Lens Investing Q1 2021 Review examines the first quarter 2021 performance and composition of gender lens equity funds, launches coverage of diversity & inclusion equity funds, offers an overview of gender lens fixed income vehicles and explores the dynamics shaping publicly available gender lens investing.
With a special topic: Gender Lens + ESG Investment Criteria.
[Read more…] about Q1 2021 ReviewThis table lists funds that are multi-cap or larger-cap, have relatively low investment minimums, and charge average fees. Most have launched since 2015, and they all utilize investment criteria centered on a WIL philosophy, typically combined with ESG screens. Many employ internal WIL tracking indexes. Solactive Equileap is the main provider of external WIL indexes, built from a universe of developed market stocks with market caps of over $2.0 billion. According to the latest Morningstar data on mutual funds and ETFs, 14% of all portfolio managers globally are women and 11% in the U.S., a figure that has not budged in many years. In the gender lens sector, the available data shows that management teams are well ahead on this front, with 46% female portfolio managers.
[Read more…] about Gender Lens Equity Funds: Key StatsAmid the economic disruptions of the pandemic and subsequent downturn, the uneven impact of COVID-19 on women has been clear. This includes increased burdens in the unpaid care economy, disproportionate job losses, and the prevalence of women in low-paying essential roles. A women-focused recovery requires creative solutions—as well as gender lens venture investors to support them.
Led by three women partners, Springbank Collective invests in early-stage companies with a focus on the care economy and the future of inclusive work. Investee companies must fit into one of three gender lens investing categories within that framework: career, care, or consumer.
The above is a excerpt from a piece by Marypat Thenell Smucker featured on TheImpactivate.com.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investors are placing a growing focus on how corporations address diversity and inclusion. As part of these efforts, LGBTQI lens investing seeks to spotlight issues of sexual orientation and gender identity such as LGBTQI rights, equality, and representation in leadership.
While a recent landmark US Supreme Court ruling protects LGBTQI workers from discrimination at workplaces with 15 or more employees, many areas still need attention, from corporate healthcare and family leave benefits to workplace culture and safety.
The above is a excerpt from a piece by Marypat Thenell Smucker featured on TheImpactivate.com.
Gender lens investing (GLI) is a thematic environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy that is inspired by women in leadership (WIL) and related gender equality criteria.
The primary publicly traded GLI equity funds available to individual investors include 12 global and 16 regional funds that together closed out 2020 with US$2.67 billion in assets under management (AUM). As a whole, they weathered the year’s economic storms well, with only one fund closing and three new ones launching.
[Read more…] about Q4 2020 Overview – A Call to Action: Aligning Gender Lens Investing and ESGIn the midst of a widespread US housing shortage, affordable housing is constrained in cities of all sizes—an issue made worse by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While men are more likely to experience homelessness, inadequately housed women face unique challenges that highlight other gendered inequities. Yet to incorporate a gender lens into US housing investments in a way that avoids discriminatory parameters, investors may need to turn their focus to building and preserving housing that meets the needs of low-income families more generally.
The above is a excerpt from a piece by Marypat Thenell Smucker featured on TheImpactivate.com.
