How can ESG investments incorporate a gender lens? As standard setting bodies vie for leadership in ESG reporting standards, there has been a focus on the materiality of ESG metrics by company and industry. Proposed ESG standards tend to focus on metrics with material impact, defined as able to be measured and documented, on financial performance or risk at the company or industry level.
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Gender Lens + ESG Investment Criteria
As a thematic environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment strategy, gender lens investment vehicles tend to incorporate two pillars of ESG. By definition gender lens investments cover the G of ESG, relationships with internal stakeholders. Our research shows that many gender lens vehicles also incorporate a focus on the S, relationships with external stakeholders. E, – to varied degrees. In Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Pillars in Gender Lens Investing, we explore how gender lens equity funds can also incorporate the E, impact of products and services on the environment and climate change risk.
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ESG Efforts toward Gender Equity Help Boost Representation for Women in STEM
Enduring obstacles have exacerbated many of the already long-standing gender gaps affecting women in STEM education and training, technology workplaces, and venture funding.
Despite programming’s origin as a woman-dominated field, the share of bachelor’s degrees women earned in computer science declined from 27% in 1998 to 20% in 2018. In the workforce, women’s representation in computing and mathematical roles has remained at about 25% since 2007. Notably, women made up just 19% of software engineers in 2019.
Women who found technology-related startups face their own stubborn gap. Funding for sole female founders represented just 2.4% of all venture capital in 2020, down from a paltry peak of 3.4% in 2019.
These figures indicate a wider need for women-focused technology education, training, innovation, and investment. Yet narrowing these gaps in representation hinges on access to a stronger ecosystem of support overall—highlighting the efforts of organizations and ESG investors seeking impact in gender equity.
The above is a excerpt from a piece by Marypat Thenell Smucker featured on TheImpactivate.com.
Innovations in Venture Capital Gender Lens Investing
Amid 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.
Springbank Collective: Gender Lens Investing Innovators
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.