Women’s history month - welcoming new members, celebrating leaders in the field, and wrapping GLI Asia fellowship

Subject: Women’s history month - welcoming new members, celebrating leaders in the field, and wrapping GLI Asia fellowship

2X Global: Unlocking gender-smart capital at scale

Dear Friend,

This month we celebrated International Women’s Day and welcomed the start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

A hearty congratulations to our Global GLI Fellowship for Asia 2023 cohort as they continue on in their journey as GLI practitioners moving more capital with a gender lens and expanding economic growth.

In light of Women’s History Month, we would like to celebrate Suzanne Biegel, 2X Global’s Senior Strategic Adviser & Board Member. For more than 20 years, Suzanne has been at the forefront of investing with a gender lens, building the gender finance community globally and convening the full spectrum of investment actors to unlock gender-smart capital at scale.

Lastly, we have extended the deadline for nominations to our 2X Forum to April 14, 2023. As a reminder, we are looking for women entrepreneurs, representatives of women’s and civil society organisations and a wider range of thought leaders in gender lens investing for strategic advice and engagement. If you’re interested in being a part of our Forum, you can read more about it and apply here.

Now to our monthly global round up of GLI news and views.

In Community,

2X Global team

News from the field

Mainstreaming gender lens investing. Equileap’s 6th Gender Equality Global Report and Ranking reveals progress on key criteria remains too slow, with less than 1% of companies closing the gender pay gap. The Diversity Project's new Pathway programme has been designed to develop and train female fund managers in the UK, where men in top management roles make up seven times the number of women. Potential investors need to start demanding data be collected so that rating agencies can send a message to companies that gender equity matters. An examination into Pakistan’s investment landscape through a gender lens. NatWest launches a 500 million euro social bond for women-led firms with proceeds going to financing or refinancing lending to women-led businesses. Gender bonds are increasingly acknowledged as an effective mechanism for unleashing capital to women and contributing toward gender equality goals.

Gender and Climate Investing. A new report by World Inequality Labs sheds light on the various dimensions of climate inequality and suggests pathways to development cooperation, and tax and social policies that tackle climate inequalities at their core. The aim of Canada’s new Sustainable Jobs Plan is to enable more gender-responsive climate action, provide case studies of what investors can do to integrate gender KPIs in investment analysis and encourage company action through engagement. Canada’s journey toward a more gender-responsive climate finance portfolio is well underway, but to scale significant gender change at all levels, Canada’s Climate Finance Division along with its peers and allies must learn to use all the levers of influence at their disposal, all the time. Women’s leadership and entrepreneurship plays a critical role in driving economic growth and creating jobs with positive social, environmental, and climate spillovers. Canada’s 2021-2026 commitment to climate finance builds on its long time support for climate action in developing countries. Twenty-five trailblazing women leading the fight against climate change. 2X Global’s Inclusive Gender and Climate Finance report explores ways investors can use a gender, climate and justice lens to channel more finance towards social and environmental progress.

Leadership, Culture and Policy. Gender & Development Network’s database of feminists working on macroeconomic issues. Fairview’s latest report on women and minority-owned private equity and VC firms found that despite 2022 being a challenging year for the economy and markets, women and minorities continue to have strong conviction in building firms. The UK Government’s international women and girls strategy 2023 to 2030 is a commitment to advance gender equality and challenge discrimination until equality reaches every woman and girl. On International Women's Day, the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter was launched with 69 signatories, which include the country's leading financial services firms, to improve gender diversity in the Luxembourg financial centre.

Development. Gender inequality is key to delivering real financial inclusion, and the small but growing number of funds that invest with a specific gender lens. The European Union’s legislation to tackle online gender-based violence and protect the voices of all women and gender-diverse people in our digital ecosystem. The current academic literature on access to finance for female entrepreneurs and female-led enterprises, looking at studies covering two main financing markets: credit and venture capital.

Data and Tools. Gender inequality in boardrooms will not be eliminated until 2038 if the current pace of progress is maintained. FTSE 350 companies, including 400 of the biggest public-listed and private companies in the UK, met the 40% target for Women on Boards three years ahead of the December 2025 target end date. Women are still being paid less at European tech companies across the board, but the situation is the worst at early-stage startups.

Care Economy. The International Labor Organisation launches new tools to encourage the investment needed to support the two billion people still without adequate maternity and paternity support, parental leave and childcare services. New research on the discrimination that migrant care workers face looks at how everyday racism enforces gendered and racialised practices and why greater attention and action are needed to make care work just, equitable and dignified. Economist Impact’s new report reveals the true potential of the childcare sector and brings childcare investment to the forefront of the economic policy debate. A review of nine randomised evaluations of childcare interventions found that access to childcare increased women’s labour force participation but only in cases where there were no additional barriers to women’s employment outside the home. Produced as background for the Bali Care Economy Dialogue, a new paper delves into issues of paid versus unpaid care, formal versus informal care workers, and care infrastructure, and provides a set of recommendations that governments in Asia and the Pacific and other actors are encouraged to adopt to collectively build a robust and resilient care economy. Two virtual reflection sessions that provide an overview of the Bali Care Economy Dialogue that took place in November 2022. Case study of Acumen Latam Impact Ventures (ALIVE) who implement a gender lens throughout their investment practices, from origination to post-investment management. The few key shifts that can ensure private investment in the care economy can work for care workers as well

JEDI, Power, and New Economic Systems. More than 100 finance industry organisations across the US and Canada have signed up to the CFA Institute’s first voluntary DEI Code within the first year of its existence. Criterion Institution's latest publication explores a ‘feminist financial imagination’ by providing guidance on how the power of finance can be leveraged to create feminist, just, and human rights-based solutions to current global challenges. How to reduce the gender financing gap by reducing discrepancies and improving accuracy in evaluations. Diversity in asset management and actionable steps for the industry. The Investor Blueprint aims to catalyse investors on the imperative of integrating racial and economic equity holistically within their institutions. Comprehensive digital platform and evaluation tool, Honordex, analyses companies on their EDI performance based on publicly available data.

Community Calendar

29 March, 2023

2X Global Digital and Financial Inclusion Community of Practice, with the Association of Sustainable Development Experts (ASDE) invite you to Women digital entrepreneurs in Ukraine and Kosovo: innovation, challenges, shared humanity. Register here.

7 April, 2023

Registrations are now open for the W7 Summit in Tokyo, which aims to bring together voices from civil society around the world to critically reflect on and inform G7 outcomes. Register for both in-person & online here.

12-14 April, 2023

The 20th Skoll World Forum will take place in Oxford, UK to celebrate 20 years of impact and the innovators who drive social progress. A 2X Global Member Meet-up will be held on the last day of the forum.

13 April, 2023

2X Global Nairobi Member Meet-up is a chance to connect with the 2X Global community, engage on the latest trends in gender lens investing and explore potential partnerships and collaborations. RSVP here.

1-5 May, 2023

The 19th Annual Africa Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) Conference and VC Summit is the largest Africa focused private capital gathering. It will be held in Cairo, Egypt. Register here.

17-18 May, 2023

The Southern Africa Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (SAVCA) is hosting a Private Equity in Southern Africa Industry Conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Register here.

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Welcome new 2X Global members

We are pleased to welcome Alphamundi, Banco Procredit, EQT, Linked Foundation, Mercy Corps, Steward Redqueen, Paypal, PEAL Capital, and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) as 2X Global’s new members for this quarter.