Every March, the global community celebrates International Women's Day (IWD) and the 67th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment. It’s an opportunity for all to reflect and take action on the inequalities that women and marginalized populations are still facing. It is well known that during crises, women and girls are the ones who are hit hardest and left behind the furthest.

According to UN Women, at the current rate of progress, it will take 286 years to remove discriminatory laws and close prevailing gaps in legal protections for women and girls. Further, over 380 million women and girls globally, are living in extreme poverty, living on less than $1.90 a day (SDG 1). 54% of girls who are not in formal education worldwide live in crisis-affected countries (SDG 4). Women’s labour force participation in 2022 is projected to remain below pre-pandemic levels in 169 countries and areas (SDG 8). Gender-based discrimination in social institutions alone is costing the global economy $6 trillion according to the OECD.

But there is hope. Where there are challenges, there are also vast opportunities. Closing the gender inequality financing gap is possible. The private sector, with its financial, human, and intellectual resources, has both a huge role to play and stands to gain from the opportunities that gender equality presents.

To make these opportunities more visible, UNDP SDG Impact, and its partners have developed the SDG Investor Maps. It is a market intelligence tool built for private investors to identify investment opportunities and business examples that have significant potential to advance the SDGs. Each potential investment opportunity (or Investment Opportunity Area – IOA) sits at the cross section where there is government policy to support it, a national sustainable development need and where promising businesses already exist.

Crucially, the SDG Investor Map methodology incorporates a gender and marginalization lens as a central component of the needs, impact and risk analyses to identifying all of the IOAs. Additionally, 86 IOAs specifically address SDG 5 - Gender Equality, and 147 IOAs address SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities, either directly or, indirectly. Integrating a gender lens when identifying IOAs acknowledges that gender is a cross-cutting consideration for all SDGs - without it, we cannot achieve them.

Factors considered during gender and marginalization analysis

When an SDG Investor Map is developed, we seek to understand the gender and marginalization issues of the country in question. For example, sex-disaggregated data, both qualitative and quantitative, is used to examine how gender influences the roles, activities, needs, constraints, opportunities, rights and entitlements of men, women, boys and girls, and non-binary persons, in specific contexts. For example, unequal access to land for men and women can impact farmers’ lives and income-earning possibilities. Through a gender analysis of each IOA, we can examine the relationships and inequalities between males and females in different parts of private and public lives. This includes, differences in decision-making power, participation, access to and control of resources.

Turning to the of marginalization of people or population groups, the analysis is based on factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, geography, religion, caste, class, disability, age, and sexual orientation. The analysis recognizes that marginalization is both a condition and process that prevents individuals and groups from full participation in social, economic and political life that is otherwise enjoyed by the wider society. The analysis also considers that these conditions can refer to different areas within the wellbeing of an individual, for example, education, private property, economic opportunity, social safety nets, infrastructure, language, protection from violence, food security, health and sanitation.

Gender and marginalization analysis sets the foundations for resilient, SDG-aligned investments

Through the gender and marginalization lenses, we are able to pinpoint potential business models and possible investment solutions to address the needs and priorities with these groups in mind. We can begin to foresee what the potential impact of these investment opportunities could be for different demographics within the country. The market intelligence collected is intended to support investors to understand gender issues and risks that could impact their investment, identify risks and mitigate them. It could help investors identify solutions to reach and benefit people who are most left behind. It can shed light on inefficiencies in different sectors stemming from gender inequalities and therefore spark new solutions to development problems and business models to address them.

Once an investor has identified a potential investment or business model to invest in, the adoption of the SDG Impact Standards will help them embed sustainability, through the prism of the SDGs, into the core of its operations. The SDG Impact Standards has been designed as a decision-making framework for businesses and investors to help them manage their impacts on people and planet – using sustainability as a strategic business approach. This includes guiding them to identify their negative impacts and reducing them, as much as it is about, identifying their positive impacts and increasing them. This approach sets up an investment to do business better and be more resilient.

By understanding a country’s national development needs and its unique issues that cause gender and marginalization inequalities, we can start tackling the root problem. We can then begin focusing our efforts and capital towards innovative solutions to ensure a brighter and equal future.

Explore nearly 500 Investment Opportunity Areas on the SDG Investor Platform

- By Sara Lisa Ørstavik, SDG Impact Specialist, UNDP SDG Impact