Incorporating a gender lens can pay off in portfolios Episode 5
Episode Summary
SDG #5: Gender equality for all women and girls. Achieving gender equity around the globe is especially crucial post-Covid-19 because women were more likely to lose their jobs and be economically hurt by the pandemic. Adviser Patricia Ferrar-Rivas explains how gender lens investments can focus on improving the lives of women or on supporting companies and other organizations that embrace equitable leadership and ownership, while Sapna Shah of the GIIN describes the business case for incorporating a gender lens within a portfolio. UNCDF’s Esther Pan Sloane tells Liz and Steve about one night she and others spent in 2015 negotiating this goal.
Episode Notes
In this episode you’ll hear:
- A quick update on the Exxon shareholder advocacy news.
- What it was like to negotiate a goal based on a premise that not every culture supports.
- How Covid-19 hit women harder than men in terms of jobs, pay equity and their safety.
- Ways gender lens investments support opportunities that improve women’s and girls’ day-to-day situations or that change ownership and decision-making within corporations or governments.
- Details of the market for women-focused investment products, including private funds.
- Which funds top the list compiled by Gender Equity Funds.org, based on the Equileap Gender Scorecard.
Related story: How advisers can advocate for gender lens investing
United Nations SDG#5 Information
Guest Bios
Esther Pan Sloane has been head of partnerships, policy and communication for the United Nations Capital Development Fund since 2015. In this role she engages with the private sector to attract funding for projects that work toward achieving the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A U.S. national and former diplomat, Sloane was part of the U.S. team that negotiated the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.
Patricia Ferrar-Rivas is a founding partner and senior wealth manager at Veris Wealth Partners and has been providing investment advisory and wealth management services since 1992. Prior to Veris, Patricia led the effort by a Silicon Valley-based public accounting firm, Frank Rimerman + Co., to launch its new investment advisory subsidiary, Frank Rimerman Advisors. She also co-founded the New York office of Progressive Asset Management in 1994. Earlier in her career, Patricia worked with Veris co-founder Michael Lent and community leaders in Central America on economic development, local empowerment and social justice.
Sapna Shah is a managing director at the Global Impact Investing Network, where she focuses on how the GIIN can most effectively use its programs to support the network’s mission of growing the impact investing market. She was previously the strategy director at the GIIN. Prior to joining the GIIN, Sapna was the program officer for Africa and regional coordinator for East Africa for CNFA, a nonprofit organization focused on strengthening the agricultural sectors of developing economies.