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The UNSW Centre for Social Impact (UNSW CSI) hosted its inaugural forum on ‘Economic Empowerment: Gender Equality in Enterprise and Investment’, bringing together industry leaders and national policy makers to advance the evidence base on gender-lens investing.

Convened by Professor Danielle Logue, Director of UNSW CSI, and Associate Professor Melissa Edwards, Research & Innovation Director UNSW CSI, the forum moved beyond the World Economic Forum’s estimate that it will take 134 years to reach gender parity.

“By exploring what's working around the world, we can adapt and implement strategies for gender-lens investing that will have a meaningful impact at scale here in Australia," said Professor Danielle Logue, Director of UNSW Centre for Social Impact, “and hopefully build a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem”.

Understanding Gender Lens Investing

Gender-lens investing is an investment approach that intentionally integrates gender analysis into financial decision-making to achieve better social and financial outcomes. It involves directing capital to enterprises that promote gender equality, supporting female entrepreneurs, or offering products or financial services that benefit women and girls. Applying a gender-lens in investment is relevant for venture capital, for impact investors, and for government procurement policies.

Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment

CEO of Women's World Banking, , delivered the international keynote address emphasising the importance of tackling the financing gap faced by women entrepreneurs, and highlighting the transformative power of gender-lens investing to change the lives of not only individuals, but households, communities and businesses as well.

“We have two vehicle finance companies that are exploring the intersection of women’s mobility and women’s empowerment,” said Mary Ellen Iskenderian, “We found that for every additional kilometre a women can travel looking for a job outside her village, she has six times more opportunities available to her.”

Under Iskenderian’s leadership, has been instrumental in growing businesses with innovative solutions that enable women to achieve economic empowerment. Their has reached more than 68 million women in emerging markets, invested nearly $106 million across 14 countries, and engaged 89 policy and regulatory institutions to advocate for inclusive change.

“We’ve worked hard over many years to make sure women’s financial inclusion, women’s entrepreneurship, and women’s access to financial services stays at the centre of the G20 agenda,” said Mary Ellen Iskenderian.

The Importance of Gender Lens Strategies

Panel discussions at the forum convened conversations on international best practices, future trends and challenges, and the role of Government, private sector, and academia in fostering a more inclusive and equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem for women abroad and at home.

Expert guest panellists included: Hannah Birdsey, CEO of ; Trisha Gray, Acting Director of the Gender Equality Strategic Budget and Investment Section at the ; , Co-Founder of Panorama Institute; Skye Heller, Senior Advisor at ; Kristen Phillips, Senior Manager at ; and Dr. Yi Zhao, Research Fellow at UNSW CSI.

Associate Professor Melissa Edwards, UNSW CSI, noted the growing interest in gender-lens investing in Australia.

"There's a rising recognition of the value that gender-lens investing brings, both socially and financially," said Professor Edwards. "By bringing together an intimate but powerful audience we are able to have conversations about meaningful impact with the changemakers that can make a difference.” 

UNSW Centre for Social Impact’s work is catalysed by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant led by Professor Logue on building the infrastructure necessary for gender-lens investing in Australia.

Next steps, UNSW Centre for Social Impact will be working with industry leaders on building a roadmap to connect the field, and the development of educational programs to create shared understandings and measurement approaches.