Celebrate Women's History Month by mobilising your resources (original) (raw)
I met Rehat while working with the artisan cooperative of the Self-Employed Women's Association in India. Initially, her desire to work at SEWA was met with harsh resistance as her father didn't feel comfortable with her being employed outside of the home. He eventually came around to the idea and in just a few short years, Rehat became the lead designer and ultimately the primary breadwinner of her household.
It was there, while working in Ahmedabad, that I understood for the first time the immense power of investing in women. Through her work, Rehat was able to support not just herself but her entire extended family. She used her additional resources to employ other women in the cooperative, enabling them to do the same. She formed the centre of a wheel, reverberating positive benefits outward to the rest of her community.
Springing from the same core belief in the power of women and girls, gender lens investing is a movement that works to build resources around women, whether they are in urban India, rural areas of the UK, or anywhere in between. It is a blend of traditional philanthropy and conventional investment that puts women at the centre, enabling investors to generate social and environmental returns in addition to profit.
Led by Criterion Institute's Women Effect Investment programme, gender lens investing has gained momentum in recent years as the economic, moral and societal reasons behind investing in women have garnered support. This Women's History Month, I encourage you to join the movement and mobilise your resources towards initiatives that explicitly include women and work at a systemic level to create a better world.
The evidence for investing in women is plentiful. From an economic standpoint, there is a strong business case for a gender lens framework. For instance, women involved in microcredit programmes in the developing world have significantly higher repayment rates compared to men. Across the world in Silicon Valley, female-led technology enterprises are more capital-efficient than the norm, and have 12% higher annual revenues than those led by men. Investing in women is a smart business decision, no matter where in the world you are.
There is also a moral case underscoring gender lens investing. While women's enterprises may be comparably leaner and generate higher revenues, they are less likely to be funded than their male counterparts, with only 13% of total venture capital deals going to women in 2013. In the developing world, female business owners not only have significantly less access to financing, they also tend to pay higher interest rates when they do get funded. Investors who use a gender lens as a starting point for evaluating investments can help fill this funding gap.
Perhaps the most significant reason for steering capital to women is the change that is possible on a systemic level. The UN has committed to supporting women, recognising women and girls' unique potential to uplift families, towns and entire regions.
As Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN, put it: "As more cash and assets get into the hands of women, more of these earnings get into the mouths, medicine and schoolbooks of their children. There is no development strategy more beneficial to society as a whole - women and men alike - than the one which involves women as central players."
Gender lens investing is a powerful framework for illuminating both the lack of financial inclusion for women as well as their tremendous power. It is the starting point of a conversation that prompts us to examine not only to whom our resources are going, but also how those resources are being used to create social change on a systemic scale.
The movement is for everyone, whether you are male or female, wealthy or not. If you work within a corporate, you can encourage your company to assess its supply chain and channel more financing towards female-led businesses. If you are an entrepreneur, you can seek out more contracts with suppliers and customers that support women.
No matter who you are, you can vote with your money and intentionally direct your resources to organisations that align with your values. Throughout this month, get involved in the movement. In the spirit of Rehat, pay it forward.
Alanna Ford works at the intersection of women's empowerment, international development and social entrepreneurship. She has worked with Women's Funding Network, as well as with grassroots women's organisations across five continents.