性別觀點投資：在投資過程中促進性別平等的工具

隨著投資者認識到在評估投資機會的同時為性別平等做出貢獻的緊迫性，性別視角投資（GLI）正在獲得動力。

Gender lens investing (GLI) has emerged as a critical tool for promoting gender equality throughout the investment process. While the world is gradually recognising the importance of the UN Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on Gender Equality has received less attention to date. However, we are now witnessing the financial world turning its focus to GLI as a means of advancing both financial objectives and the gender empowerment agenda.

性別觀點投資（GLI）已成為在整個投資過程中促進性別平等的重要工具。儘管世界逐漸認識到聯合國2030年議程的重要性，但迄今為止關於性別平等的可持續發展目標（SDG）5受到的關注較少。然而，我們現在目睹金融界將注意力轉向 GLI，以此作為推進金融目標和性別賦權議程的手段。

For instance, the European Institute for Gender Equality has highlighted the substantial economic gains associated with promoting gender equality, which, according to recent estimates, could boost the European Union’s GDP by as much as 9.6%. This demonstrates the profound impact that gender equality initiatives can have on economic growth and prosperity.

例如，歐洲性別平等研究所強調了促進性別平等所帶來的巨大經濟利益，根據最近的估計，這可能使歐盟的 GDP 成長高達 9.6%。這顯示性別平等措施可以對經濟成長和繁榮產生深遠影響。

The report “Empowering Women, Building Sustainable Assets” aims to examine the diverse landscape of GLI models and practices, while also addressing the challenges and contradictions they may pose to feminist agendas. The report emphasises the need to strengthen GLI in order to foster inclusive and sustainable development that prioritises the needs of women and, more broadly, of minorities with respect to access to finance.

報告《賦予婦女權力，建立永續資產》旨在審視 GLI 模式和實踐的多樣化格局，同時解決它們可能對女性主義議程帶來的挑戰和矛盾。報告強調需要加強 GLI，以促進包容性和永續發展，優先考慮婦女以及更廣泛的少數群體在獲得融資方面的需求。

The study, conducted by Politecnico di Milano’s Tiresia, Bocconi University’s AXA Research Lab on Gender Equality and Phenix Capital, provides valuable insights into the current state of GLI. Data reveals that only 17.2% of funds place gender equality at the heart of their strategies. It is therefore evident that greater attention should be paid to gender considerations within impact investing frameworks.

這項研究由米蘭理工大學的 Tiresia、博科尼大學的 AXA 性別平等研究實驗室和 Phoenix Capital 共同開展，為了解 GLI 的現狀提供了寶貴的見解。數據顯示，只有 17.2% 的基金將性別平等作為其策略的核心。因此，顯然應在影響力投資框架內更關注性別因素。

The interviews, conducted with 22 institutional investors from around the world, further illuminate the nuances of GLI practices and the challenges faced by financial providers. They also unveil the diversity of approaches characterising the GLI landscape, ranging from the use of gender issues as a risk mitigation approach to the strategic valorisation of such issues for the generation of social impact.

這些訪談對來自世界各地的 22 家機構投資者進行，進一步闡明了 GLI 做法的細微差別以及金融提供者面臨的挑戰。他們還揭示了 GLI 格局的多樣性方法，從利用性別議題作為風險緩解方法到策略性地評估此類問題以產生社會影響。

Delving deeper into the results, the report identifies the lack of a clear definition and, consequently, of unanimous awareness of this phenomenon. Unsurprisingly, the vagueness and opacity around the meaning of gender lens is making its adoption mostly unstructured and ineffective.

透過更深入研究結果，報告發現這種現象缺乏明確的定義，因此也缺乏一致的認知。毫不奇怪，性別視角意義的模糊性和不透明性導致其採用大多是非結構化且無效的。

As the relevance of GLI has just started to emerge, enhanced measurement and transparency around its outcomes and impact are needed. Merely assessing financial performance is not enough to address the complex challenges of gender inequality. Rather, investors should combine financial results and impact measurement, with the aim of advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

由於 GLI 的相關性剛開始顯現，因此需要加強對其成果和影響的衡量和透明度。僅僅評估財務績效不足以解決性別不平等的複雜挑戰。相反，投資者應該將財務績效和影響衡量結合起來，以促進性別平等和婦女賦權。

While GLI has a clear potential to drive transformative change, evidence of its impact on gender equality remains largely anecdotal. As we move forward, it is essential to integrate gender issues more comprehensively into investment evaluation schemes. This means investors should move away from a performance-focused mindset and embrace one that leverages the use of finance to deliver systemic change. Accordingly, women’s economic empowerment should become an investment priority and come to encompass decent working conditions, work-life balance, equal pay and entrepreneurship opportunities. The willingness to finance initiatives that champion the role of women in traditionally male-dominated contexts is a key step to advocating an organisational change when it comes to entities demanding financial resources.

雖然 GLI 具有推動變革的明顯潛力，但其對性別平等影響的證據在很大程度上仍然是傳聞。隨著我們的前進，有必要將性別議題更全面地納入投資評估計畫中。這意味著投資人應該放棄以績效為中心的思維方式，轉而擁抱利用金融來實現系統性變革的思維方式。因此，增強婦女經濟權能應成為一項投資優先事項，並包括體面的工作條件、工作與生活的平衡、同工同酬和創業機會。當涉及到需要財政資源的實體時，願意為在傳統男性主導的背景下倡導女性角色的舉措提供資金是倡導組織變革的關鍵一步。

By elevating gender issues to a political level and adopting new investment approaches, GLI can become a cornerstone of sustainable development efforts. It offers investors an opportunity to align their financial interests with broader societal goals, ultimately creating a more equitable and prosperous future for all. More importantly, raising the attention to GLI is a joint effort that should involve policymakers, investors and target investees. Indeed, top-down incentives and regulatory mechanisms that preserve the integrity of gender issues in the mindset of financial investors may encourage target investees to raise the level of equality and women empowerment.

透過將性別議題提升到政治層面並採用新的投資方式，GLI 可以成為永續發展努力的基石。它為投資者提供了將其財務利益與更廣泛的社會目標結合起來的機會，最終為所有人創造一個更公平和繁榮的未來。更重要的是，提高對GLI的關注需要政策制定者、投資者和目標投資對象的共同努力。事實上，在金融投資者的思維中維持性別議題完整性的自上而下的激勵和監管機制可能會鼓勵目標投資對象提高平等和婦女賦權的水平。

In these terms, the joint effort on GLI can help disseminate the culture of impact in the mainstream mechanisms of the financial markets and ensure that investment approaches are not reduced to a tick-box exercise on gender issues, but serve the purpose of equality.

從這些角度來看，GLI的共同努力有助於在金融市場主流機制中傳播影響力文化，並確保投資方式不會淪為性別議題的勾選練習，而是服務於平等的目的。

By embracing a more integrated and holistic approach, the economic system can leverage the capital of financial actors to create meaningful change and enable previously left-behind individuals to become the protagonists of the new impact-imperative era of world development.

透過採用更全面和全面的方法，經濟體係可以利用金融參與者的資本來創造有意義的變革，並使以前的落後個人成為世界發展新的影響力時代的主角。