BlackRock, Inc. and UN Women signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote gender lens investing. BlackRock will explore methods to mobilise resources in favour of economic opportunity for women as part of the partnership. UN Women will share data and research.

UN Women defines gender lens investing as the intentional allocation of capital and alignment of investment strategies, processes, and products to achieve women's empowerment goals and a financial return.

The alliance intends to promote the expansion of gender lens investing and encourage greater capital mobilisation into enterprises that meet women's needs in education, financial services, childcare, and healthcare. BlackRock and UN Women believe investing in women and girls may expand their economic involvement, generating value and growth. 1

BlackRock will invest across asset classes, locations, and investing strategies for customers. "Dual bottom line" investments strive to produce or support positive real-world outcomes while producing attractive, risk-adjusted returns for investors. An initial set of funds will launch over the next quarters and be open to global institutional and wealth investors.

BlackRock and UN Women will engage the broader ecosystem of public and private sector organisations focused on gender equality, strengthen data collaboration and research, and explore additional opportunities to promote return-generating and market-based solutions that improve the lives of women and girls.

Isabelle Mateos y Lago, Global Head of BlackRock's Official Institutions Group, said, "We're thrilled to join with UN Women, a global champion for women's empowerment, to scale gender-lens investment." This alliance will assist asset owners around the world focus more on the "S" pillar of ESG and invest for positive real-world outcomes and competitive financial returns.

UN Women's objective is to ensure that all women and girls can exercise their basic human rights and reach their full economic and social potential, according to Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia. Gender equality is central to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals and requires strong public-private partnerships to devote more funding to gender equality goals. We're happy to join with BlackRock, a leading global asset management, to promote gender lens investment.

BlackRock and UN Women will co-host "Scaling Up Gender Lens Investing: Examining the Economic Case" later this year to address how market-based methods may boost women's economic participation and close the gender financing gap.

Source: BlackRock newsroom