Gender-based violence (GBV) denotes harmful behaviors aimed at individuals or groups based on their gender, stemming from inequalities, power abuse, and harmful societal norms. It highlights the structural disparities in power between genders, placing women and girls at risk of various forms of violence. 

While issues like GBV can often seem detached from concepts like finance, leveraging finance and investment can be a powerful strategy to combat GBV and drive social change. ESCAP partnered with Criterion Institute – a think tank dedicated to expanding possibilities for how finance can be used for social change – to explore this link during the Feminist Finance Forum 2024. As part of the session on “Financing the Prevention of Gender Based Violence”, Criterion Institute detailed five key strategies to utilize finance for this purpose:

1. Investing in opportunities

By channeling resources into enterprises that address GBV, investors can significantly impact social change. This includes investing in companies that promote gender equality, support survivors, and transform gender norms. For example, funding apps that report sexual violence or financing companies innovating processes in high-risk sectors can reduce GBV incidences. Divesting from companies contributing to GBV further pressures industries to adopt better practices. Development workers and grassroots organizations can also demand this reallocation of resources by highlighting the work of companies working towards gender equality.

2. Assigning value in a market

Financial systems assign value based on analyzed opportunities and risks. Advocating for the inclusion of GBV as a material risk in financial assessments can shift how value is assigned. This involves creating methodologies that recognize GBV's impact on market risks across geographies and industries. By translating GBV costs into material risks, investors can pressure governments and companies to act against GBV, thereby affecting long-term change. GBV risk prediction also requires looking at norms change, particularly societal tolerance of GBV. For example, post the MeToo movement’s mainstreaming in 2017, companies with high instances of sexual harassment or a hostile work environment face greater risk to their reputation, which can be translated into a greater risk for investors and can help in divesting resources from such companies.

3. Facilitating the movement of capital

Shifting the structure and terms of investments can alter power dynamics, promoting practices that mitigate GBV. This includes using blended finance vehicles to influence investments and creating vehicles that shift power dynamics in supply chains to prevent sexual exploitation. Engaging investors to adopt best practices in business operations can further reduce GBV's impact on workers and society. In practical terms, this could look like an investor requiring company workers to undergo gender sensitization training to foster an equitable environment for all workers. This could reduce incidences of GBV and sexual harassment towards employees and could therefore keep them in the workforce where they can contribute productively to the company, rather than taking time off work due to fear of facing exploitation or to access healthcare and legal services.

4. Managing the business of investing

Integrating GBV risk assumptions into investment processes is crucial. This involves building GBV analysis into industry standards and reporting requirements, increasing data availability within environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research, and creating process metrics for donor agencies. By targeting factors driving GBV in certain sectors like manufacturing, investors can advocate for changes that reduce GBV prevalence.

5. Diversifying a portfolio

Influencing benchmarks and introducing metrics that track GBV impact can help diversify investment portfolios. This includes integrating GBV considerations into impact investing metrics, assessing mobile tech apps for GBV consequences, and ensuring gender considerations in climate finance. Creating indexes that rank companies based on their GBV impact and assessing social issue investments for unintended GBV consequences can further drive change.

Investors play a pivotal role in shaping practices that mitigate GBV. By strategically allocating resources and advocating for better data and risk assessments, finance can be harnessed to create a safer and more equitable world. Embracing these strategies ensures that investments not only yield financial returns but also contribute to reducing GBV and promoting social justice.