Women and Sustainable Investing: Driving Assets and Benefitting From a Gender-Lens Approach

by Lisa Woll, CEO of US SIF and US SIF Foundation

Women are Increasingly Driving Asset Growth

Women are and will continue to be critical to the ability to move forward investments in sustainability-focused products and strategies. According to a Morgan Stanley study, 84 percent of women expressed interest in sustainable investing, compared to 67 percent of men. Similarly, research from Moxie Future found that 83 percent of women investors care where their money is invested, 69 percent feel a sense of urgency to invest responsibly, and 63 percent are motivated to be responsible investors.

According to the most recent data from the US Department of Labor, 57 percent of women participate in the US labor market, compared to 34 percent in 1950. Thirty nine percent of all privately held firms are women-owned, including one in five with revenue of $1 million or more, the National Association of Women Business Owners indicates. A US Census Bureau study found that women are now the primary breadwinners in 23 percent of households, compared to 11 percent in 1960. US Trust research identified that globally, the income of women has surpassed $15 trillion, making it a growth market larger than China’s economy and second only to the US economy.

The US SIF Foundation tracked data on gender lens investing for the second time in its Report on US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends 2018. The report identified $868 billion in institutional investor assets under management that take gender lens issues under consideration, more than double the $397 billion identified in 2016. Additionally, organizations like the Thirty Percent Coalition, which seeks to assure that women hold 30 percent of board seats across public companies in the United States, have been created to create a more equitable playing field. 

Read Lisa's complete article and get information on the US SIF National Conference this June in Minneapolis, all here at--   https://greenmoney.com/women-and-sustainable-investing-driving-assets-and-benefitting-from-a-gender-lens-approach 

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