This paper focuses on gender equality in credit investing and practical steps to close the persistent data gap.
Gender inequality remains a major barrier on inclusive growth and economic resilience, especially in emerging markets. Gender equality is both an economic and investment imperative:
it has the potential to boost global GDP by over 20%.
Despite this, the gender-focused bond market represents less than 2% of the sustainable bonds.
However, this segment is growing rapidly, from around USD5 billion outstanding in 2020 to nearly $15 billion by the end of 2023.
A major challenge to market growth is the lack of gender-specific KPIs in many gender-focused sustainable bonds: only 5% of these bonds include outcome-level indicators.
What can be done ?
- Investors can adopt gender-smart ESG frameworks to identify sovereigns and corporates with credible commitments to advancing gender equality.
- Companies should embed gender considerations in leadership, operations, and supply chains, while governments can align bond proceeds with public gender policies. Both issuers play a crucial role in scaling the market and ensuring its integrity.
- As the largest European asset manager, Amundi’s size and the extent of its stewardship capabilities are powerful levers to influence issuers. Amundi has engaged with 55 issuers in 2024 on gender equality topics.
The next evolution of gender finance must center gender through a transversal lens, embedded in capital structures, issuer strategies and performance metrics, rather than siloed products or labels.
- Harmonising standards across frameworks and offering practical guidance for embedding gender can transform gender from an optional overlay into a core pillar of sustainable finance design.
- First-time or smaller issuers, especially in emerging markets, need more hands-on support. Technical assistance should focus on establishing baselines, selecting context-appropriate KPIs, and structuring gender-focused reporting to close persistent data gaps.
