From The International Labour Organisation (ILO)- “The report provides a global overview of national laws and practices regarding care policies, namely maternity protection, paternity, parental and other care-related leave policies, as well as childcare and long-term care services.”

From The International Development Research Center (IDRC)- This IDRC evidence review looks at the impact of COVID 19 on gender equality and women’s rights and makes the case for investing in child care.

From Principles for Responsible Investment- This paper outlines how and why investors can contribute to equity for all and provides the case for integrating DEI into investment and ownership decisions. It also outlines how investors can lead by example and address DEI within their own organisations.

From Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies- This guide was developed for organizations that seek to apply a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) lens to their internal data collection processes and assess and improve how they collect constituent information through tools such as alumni surveys and program evaluations.

From The GIIN- Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from institutional asset owners along with qualitative data from asset managers and intermediaries, this research seeks to detail which strategies and mechanisms asset owners may need in place to align with asset managers to achieve impact across their portfolios. The research brief covers the nature of engagement with asset owners, challenges in pursuing impact alongside asset managers, and strategies to align impact incentives with external asset managers.

From International Journal of Finance and Economics - This article examines the relationship between gender diversity, selected female attributes, and financial performance of FTSE 100 firms in the UK. This study finds a positive and significant relationship between gender diversity and firm performance. However, the results become highly significant and unequivocal when three or more females are appointed to the board compared to the appointment of two or less females. Further analysis reveals that post-appointment financial performance is positively related to female age, level of education and where female board members also hold executive director positions.

From Donor Committee for Enterprise Development - This paper aims to clarify the synergies between the goals and approaches of Women’s Economic Empowerment and Gender Lens Investing, and to illustrate the possible pathways to close this gap. This document is intended for those working in private sector engagement, with a focus on women’s economic empowerment and gender equality, within donor agencies

From Willis Towers Watson This paper covers:

• Our beliefs around the importance of diversity as a key ingredient of success for asset managers

• The importance of looking beyond asset management ownership to understand diversity and what really drives performance

• Our approach to measuring diversity and asset management culture and how we are engaging with the asset management industry

• The initial findings of our assessment of diversity and the positive link to performance outcomes

• The tools we have developed to assess and assist asset managers and asset owners to help bring about change in the area of diversity

From Fairview Capital- A market update and review of woman and minority-owned private equity and venture capital firms actively raising capital in 2020 based on data collected by Fairview Capital

From Fairview Capital- “In our latest report, we share Fairview’s data on the size, evolution, and current characteristics of the universe of woman and minority-owned private equity and venture capital firms (firms majority owned by women and/or ethnic minorities in the US). In 2021, we found that this set of diverse private equity and venture capital firms is larger and more dynamic than ever before.”

Gender diversity at work and investing in equality for women can actually increase a company’s—and your portfolio’s—bottom line. Lily Trager, Wealth Management, Director of Impact Investing at Morgan Stanley, explains.

From AlphaMundi and Value for Women. Over 18 months, AlphaMundi and Value for Women (VfW) piloted strategies designed to both address gender disparities and improve business performance in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets. Learn about these strategies and the exciting early impacts and results.

From Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) and the Angel Investment Network Indonesia (ANGIN). The Emergence of Angel Investment Networks in Southeast Asia is the first research of its kind focusing on Angel Investment Networks (AINs) in Southeast Asia, with a specific focus on Gender Lens Investing practices.

As first report of a three part series, A Good Practice Guide to Effective Angel Investing focuses on the development and current landscape of Angel Investment Networks in Southeast Asia and provides an overview of the functions, taxonomy, and challenges facing Angel Networks in the region. Based on interviews with expert practitioners, this report also provides advice for managers and members of Angel Investment Networks to explore mechanisms to achieve financial sustainability, implement operational improvements, and pursue collaborations with other ecosystem players including entrepreneurs, government, intermediaries, and other investors.

The second report, A Spotlight on Gender Lens Investing (GLI), examines how GLI is being applied by Angel Investment Networks in Southeast Asia and provides insights into the opportunities and challenges for hybrid GLI-Angel Investments.

From CNote. This report reflects insights from BIPOC women entrepreneurs collected through survey responses from over 75 women, more than 40 hours of individual interviews, and a two-day convening of 20 women. Research participants represented a diversity of racial and ethnic backgrounds, industries, geographic regions, and stages of business. Additionally, Impact Experience surveyed more than 20 CDFIs, capital providers, and intermediaries to better understand the challenges that community lenders face when women of color come to them for lending.

From Agence Française de Développement and UN Women. This report offers a unique perspective with concrete examples of how Public Development Banks (PDBs) have delivered on a gender equality agenda across their varied mandates, histories and methods of engagement. The report’s case-studies show both internal and external approaches and practices to tackling gender equality. It underlines and demonstrates the tremendous benefit for PDBs in understanding how to address and measure their own gender equality, either as organizations and/or with their partners, in order to create a more inclusive and equal world.

From ESCAP. This report describes the state of the unpaid care economy in ASEAN countries. By examining the socioeconomic, political, legislative and institutional conditions in each country of ASEAN, this report highlights examples of promising policy measures undertaken either prior to the COVID-19 pandemic or as emergency measures after its onset to address women’s unpaid care and domestic work. The report proposes recommendations to introduce a care-sensitive dimension into national and regional gender policies towards building back better and more equal.

From Cambridge Associates. In this paper, Cambridge Associates demonstrates that climate change is also a social justice issue, given its disproportionate impact on women, people of color, lower income communities, and developing countries. They outline ways in which investors, including those pursuing a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, can implement an intersectional approach to climate justice in portfolios, both holistically across themes and within each asset class. Lastly, they outline three steps investors should consider to help ensure our transition to a low-carbon economy is inclusive and just. Ultimately, they believe all investors would benefit from understanding the risks and opportunities associated with climate justice.

From Credit Suisse. The Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI)’s ‘Gender 3000 in 2021: Broadening the diversity discussion’ report:

• Tracks the changing gender profile of senior executives and boardrooms across global industries from a unique bottom up perspective.

• Reveals boardroom diversity continues to improve globally with an approximate average of 24% of women sitting in corporate boardrooms. The percentage of women in senior management positions (“C-suite” roles) has also improved to 20%.

• Illustrates a positive correlation between increased gender diversity in leadership positions and superior returns on capital, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and stock performance. The more pervasive diversity is within an organization, the stronger the relationship.

• Outlines the state of female representation in entrepreneurship. Over the past five years, the ratio of female-to male-founded start-ups is up from 0.62 to 0.73 but challenges remain for female founders.

From Baobab Consulting. In this edition of Baobab Consulting’s LinkedIn white paper, Omolara "Lara" Abiona investigates why African female entrepreneurs find it hard to access financing, sheds light on the complex relational dynamics that further impedes economic empowerment, and presents recommendations to address the access to finance gap on various level.

From HEC Paris. At the senior level, men outnumber women by a 10 to 1 ratio in the private equity sector. Considerations about gender equality notwithstanding, such a testosterone-only environment is not good for the bottom line. A large-scale study of investment deals by HEC Paris professor of strategy and business policy proves that teams with at least one female member dramatically outperform male-only teams. (An interview with Oliver Gottschalg.)