Gender lens strategy for business and investment
Gender Equity | Value from Diversity | Responsible Capital
Gender lens strategy for business and investment
Gender Equity | Value from Diversity | Responsible Capital
Welcome
Equity JV
Gender inequality impacts every facet of society. This impact extends to the financial markets, creating material risks but also opportunities.
We founded Equity JV to assist all investors, board directors, family offices, investment committees and anyone making investment or strategic decisions to create change.
Our focus is a gender lens
We work with investors and advisers to address gender inequity.
We assist in understanding gender impact, strategic options, and to formulate a gender-lens strategy which can adapt & evolve.
We work with organisations to use gender equality for financial performance, organisational capability & sustainability.
What we do
Gender- lens investing for purpose-driven companies
Bring visibility to your commitment to gender equality
Gender- lens investing for purpose-driven companies
Looking to understand the impact of your portfolio or create a new focus? Equity JV can support you to effectively engage with your investment advisers and collaborate to find your authentic path. This can also include gender - lens educating and reviews of relevant policies and governance documents.
Talking about gender equality
Bring visibility to your commitment to gender equality
Gender- lens investing for purpose-driven companies
Navigate the change in Australia's conversation about gender equality. Be confident to lead change in policy areas such as pay equity and workplace safety. We introduce a global view of themes and concepts that impact social attitudes and expectations. We can provide executive and board, or audit and investment committee briefings.
Bring visibility to your commitment to gender equality
Bring visibility to your commitment to gender equality
Bring visibility to your commitment to gender equality
Is gender equality a statement of corporate aspiration or your strategy? We work with organisations to articulate their ambitions and amplify strategic goals so progress in gender equality is visible for staff, regulators, and investors.
Mind the gap
Managing risks and leveraging opportunities
Bring visibility to your commitment to gender equality
Is gender equality part of your plans, but not part of your strategy? This "gap" can mean resources are allocated to your pay gap or diversity projects, for example, but when missing from strategic plans and reports, is progress what it needs to be? When organisations give gender equality the strategic treatment, they can close that gap. Articulating your goals and focus in your organisation's strategy usually ensures progress is monitored by the board, measured, and commitment to gender equality is clear to staff, management, and stakeholders.
Sustainability and ESG
Managing risks and leveraging opportunities
Managing risks and leveraging opportunities
Over a decade of research supports the case for applying gender analysis to achieve long term sustainable growth; making it good for businesses and for society. For companies seeking to support their strategy through ESG initiatives or for enhanced risk management and investor reporting, Equity JV can help to strengthen the 'S' factor, get the right metrics in place and assist your with a narrative that genuinely reflects your progress.
Managing risks and leveraging opportunities
Managing risks and leveraging opportunities
Managing risks and leveraging opportunities
We help you identify and manage risk with a gender lens. Seeing gender equality as both a risk and opportunity to ensure the long-term success of your business.
Gender equality is key to your organisation's long term sustainability. Integration with your strategy and risk reporting the value of gender equality is leveraged and aligned with your organisation's purpose and goals. This service is also suitable for People and Culture and Human Resources functions.
Gender lens investing
Using a gender lens: advisory & values-aligned investors
Using a gender lens: advisory & values-aligned investors
We work as independent advisers, independent of any product group or label to assist private Investors and their advisers invest in gender equality. The aim may be to assess the current impact or to simply understand the options for gender-lens investing. We can collaborate with your current wealth advisors or suggest (unaligned) advisory who work with values-aligned investors. Our focus is on asset classes within a typical portfolio, particularly publicly listed equities, managed funds and ETFs.
Using a gender lens: advisory & values-aligned investors
Using a gender lens: advisory & values-aligned investors
Using a gender lens: advisory & values-aligned investors
We can provide your advisory group, ESG analysts, or your Ethical Investing Team with an introduction to investing with a gender-lens, looking for intersectionality, and insights to pick authenticity in ESG screens and "pink washing". We can provide private clients and investment groups updates on gender equality and the investment market as required.
Due Diligence
Using a gender lens: advisory & values-aligned investors
Due Diligence
This due diligence stretches beyond the data room of a legal, financial, and commercial due diligence. Equity JV works with organisations to assess the governance and culture of an acquisition through a gender-lens. This contributes a perspective on risk and opportunity which is largely overlooked but which may reveal potential areas of value, or concern.
Amplify Impact
Aligning your investments with your values focuses your impact and amplifies your strategic goals. Over a decade of research supports the case for applying gender analysis to achieve long term sustainable growth; making it good for businesses and for society. Translating this knowledge into action can be through direct investments, or specific gender lens screens, or where gender equality is part of ESG indicators.
What is a Gender Lens?
Gender Lens is a phrase used when we apply various ‘lenses’ when performing due diligence, making investment decisions or peering deeper into a company's culture and organisational infrastructure.
Applying a gender lens means to give conscious consideration to women and girls by improving disadvantage, increasing their economic opportunities and enhancing their social well-being. We share a cautionary note that implementing a gender lens will not immediately provide equitable outcomes because bringing equity to society means bridging years of gaps in laws, corporate practices and cultural norms that continue to be pervasive.
Fortunately, Gender Lens Investing is a practice which is expanding globally. There is growing support that adopting a gender lens is good for investment, good for businesses, and good for society. This understanding has translated into widespread action in the investment world. Publicly traded gender - lens equity funds now account for some US$4.2 billion as at 31 March 2023. (Note 2)
Investors can intentionally and measurably use capital to promote equity; both within each investment and across their portfolio. From a company CEO, board director or investment committee perspective, applying a gender lens can also assist to make the organisation more attractive to diverse investment, to enhance corporate value, or to align their investment portfolio with the gender policies of the corporation.
Investors come from large institutions, family offices, investment groups, faith-based funds and purpose-driven individuals. It may be their values that drove them to start this journey, but with over ten years of research and performance data now available, we now know that financial markets are being drawn to this emerging discipline for enhanced financial performance, organisational capability and corporate sustainability that gender-smart investing can provide.
References
https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/wgea-business-case-for-gender-equality_0.pdf
Nina Smith, Valdemar Smith and Mette Verner, ‘Do Women in Top Management Affect Firm Performance? A Panel Study of 2500 Danish Firms’ (2005) IZA Discussion Paper No. 1708
https://parallellefinance.com/gli-q123/ accessed 16 August 2023
Defining Gender and the Intersectional Gender Lens
We recognise that the full range of gender identities includes non-female and non-male gender identities. We acknowledge that this website uses binary gender identification and we also acknowledge the role sex, race, class and other identifiers have in social inequality and inequity. Our concepts can be applied beyond the binary gender focus to include the benefits of all facets of diversity and inclusion.