Editorial: growing gender lens investing in emerging markets

Abstract

The rapid scaling up of all forms of sustainable finance has become a priority of the international community. This task is especially crucial for gender lens investing (GLI), whose growth in low- and middle-income countries—though dynamic, innovative, and gaining momentum—remains too slow, fragmented, and Northern-driven, not only in terms of the origin of capital but also in its design and implementation. This special issue of multidisciplinary papers contributes to pushing the frontiers of GLI growth forward in five areas: the role and scope of GLI; the importance of the care economy; GLI implementation strategies; Southern-led, women-led capital mobilization; and the interactions of gender and performance in investee firms. Driven by reciprocal scholar-practitioner partnerships, future research on the growth of gender lens investing in emerging markets should be Southern directed, methodologically plural, anchored in open data, and actionable in real time.