Why Invest In Women

As fundamental pillars of economic development and human rights, women's economic empowerment and gender equality are absolute necessities in the pursuit of equitable and sustainable development that benefits each and every one of us.


AWIF invests with a gender lens to empower women to perform at their full potential, and to help create an equitable and sustainable world for us all. Though considerable progress has been made to identify and address structural gender inequality around the world, there are immense opportunities to be realized:


Global Gaps | Opportunities

Fewer women join the workforce, they are underpaid compared to their male counterparts and women entrepreneurs lack access to credit to expand their activities and earnings1...
...but women re-invest a larger part of their incomes in their households than men, multiplying impact locally.4

Fewer women than men take on innovation roles3...
...but having women among a company's innovators results in a deeper understanding of women customers and improves the likelihood of success by 144%.6

In the boardroom, women are chronically underrepresented...
...but firms with more diverse boards have been shown to achieve superior financial performance compared to their peers.5


Gender gaps in pay, access to credit and participation represent the enormous untapped potential of women around the world. Identifying and addressing the root causes underlying gender bias can advance gender parity in the workforce and add about 28 trillion USD to global GDP by 20302.

Investing for women's economic empowerment is not only the right investment, it is the smart investment.

References

1: UN Women | 2: McKinsey | 3: Women's World Banking | 4: United Nations | 5: Deloitte | 6: CTI

BE A
DRIVING FORCE
FOR WOMEN

Collective action has the power to accelerate the advancement of women’s economic empowerment and gender equality across Asia. We are actively seeking innovative solutions and models, knowledge sharing opportunities and partnerships with like-minded leaders.

Please contact us at awif@spf.or.jp to learn more and explore opportunities.