Over the past year, investments that specifically benefit women and girls surged by 85 percent in the United States to reach a record $2.4 billion
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Businesses that invest to help women and girls have surged in the past year, hitting a record high in the United States, according to organizers of an ethical investment summit.
Female entrepreneurs often face more obstacles than men, including a lack of access to finance, business networks, international markets and role models.
Women must also wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and win equal representation at work, the World Economic Forum said in 2017, revealing the widest gap in almost a decade.
But there are strong signs businesses are increasingly open to so-called “gender lens investing”, where investments are expressly made to benefit women, such as working to close pay gaps, boosting female leaders, tackling domestic violence and promoting women’s health.
The finding was released ahead of the first global summit aimed at boosting investments that help end gender inequality.
Suzanne Biegel, one of the organizers of the Gender-Smart Investing Summit in London, said the movement was at a “crucial tipping point”.
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