Gender Lens Investing Delivers Positive Social Impact

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Gender lens investing is emerging as an important new investment discipline to generate for financial performance, while also improving the status of women and girls around the world, according to a white paper from Veris Wealth Partners, one of the nation's leading independent wealth advisors for sustainable and impact investors.

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Women, Wealth and Impact: Investing with a Gender Lens highlights the benefits of integrating gender into the process of analyzing financial value. By evaluating whether capital will benefit, men, women or both, capital is mobilized to eliminate historical inequities that have held back companies, economies and communities.

"Investors are recognizing we are missing opportunities for social and financial return because capital is not flowing optimally to women and a lack of board diversity and gender equity in the workplace is constraining profits and innovation," said CEO Patricia Farrar-Rivas. "According to the 2010 US Department of Labor statistics, 46.8% of the workforce is female and their median weekly earnings were 81% of male workers. Gender lens investing provides a view into gender inequities and seeks to direct capital to support gender equality and expose investors to the out-performance associated with women."

The 10-page paper from Veris is a "how-to" guide for investors wanting to use their portfolios to empower and support women, from small farmers in Africa to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

The paper poses fundamental questions overlooked by investors today. For example, what are the social and financial consequences of investment decisions that consistently allocate capital and opportunities to one sex over the other? Does integrating gender into decision-making identify new investment opportunities or expose risks previously overlooked? What options are available to investors wanting to apply a gender lens?

The Veris analysis draws on academic research showing that companies with women leadership perform better. For example, companies with three or more corporate directors who are women in at least four out of five years significantly outperformed those with no women on the board across a range of metrics: by 84% on return on sales (ROS), 60% on return on invested capital (ROIC) and 46% on return on equity (ROE). 

"Increasingly, board diversity and workplace equity are being recognized as drivers of long-term outperformance, and are essential for sustainability and effective governance," Farrar-Rivas said. "Gender lens investing enables investor to identify these opportunities and address the historical inequities in the distribution of capital."

About Veris Wealth Partners
Veris Wealth Partners, LLC is an independent, partner-owned wealth management firm that aligns investors' wealth with their financial and social objectives. Veris believes that superior investment performance and positive impact are complementary parts of a holistic investment strategy. Veris is based in San Francisco with offices in New York City and Portsmouth. For information, call 415.815.0580, or visit www.veriswp.com.

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Patricia Farrar-Rivas
ProfNet - http://www.profnetconnect.com/patriciarivas

SOURCE Veris Wealth Partners