The report states that, for an investment focused on empowerment and equality of women in society, investors do not need to solely invest in gender lens funds. Rather, a more direct solution can be through focusing on the systematic and institutional practices that have laid the foundations of gender inequality.

Females that own a small to mid-sized company have an estimated credit gap of nearly US$3b in contrast to their male counterparts. Women are also often denied promotions and career opportunities because of their gender. Death related to sexual and reproductive health form the basis of one third of health issues faced by women between 15 and 44. This is often preventable because they lack the access to prenatal care and health education. Females are estimated to only control up to 30% of the global wealth and 1.1 billion women do not seek bank and financial services. Those that do attempt to borrow only gain 4% of commercial loans and often are at higher cost because of poorer credit history or collateral. Accessing financial services that are readily available empower women to pursue business opportunities and improve their material standard of living. With men twice as likely to access the internet, females face an uneven playing field for opportunities such as employment and financial services. In the education system, females are far less likely to complete higher forms of education with only 25% of countries gaining gender parity in upper-education.

Addressing fundamental issues are more likely to allow women to create a multiplier effect for the economy. This is because households can rapidly earn higher incomes, living conditions can improve, higher spending and overall greater economic growth can therefore be recorded. Businesses are also able to increase revenues because women are more likely to spend on high quality food, material goods and consumer durables. Similarly, diversity in businesses can substantially improve financial returns and create a more inclusive workplace.

As global investors become more interested in gender lens investing, they expect fund managers to take appropriate analysis of the companies values and directions in creating gender equality. This report suggests using the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a primary framework because they form a reputable and concrete basis for businesses to communicate their objectives in improving the lives of women within their business model.

Cornerstone Capital created The Access Impact Framework, a tool to help connect investment strategy development directly to the SDGs and therefore contribute to a more equal world. Although this framework can be used for other global issues, the seven Access themes focused on gender equality discussed in this report include access to:

• equal opportunity
• healthcare
• financial services
• telecommunication
• education
• clean water and hygiene
• adequate housing and living conditions.

This report then discusses how to significantly achieve the above themes for women through assets classes such as government bonds and private equity.

1. This report asks financiers to consider investing capital for basic needs for females as this can not only help with creating equal opportunities but are a sizeable method to return value for shareholders.
2. Access to fair treatment and equal opportunities: investment in equities and bonds where female leadership is strongly represented and businesses that specifically provide the skilling and financial opportunities can develop independence for women and solve community cultural challenges that act as a barrier for females can gain opportunities in employment and education.
3. Access to healthcare services: investors can specifically support this access by investing in businesses and government bonds that actively engage in real-estate and funding for health clinics for young girls or companies that develop cheap and effective healthcare products for females in developing countries.
4. Access to financial services: financiers can address this hindrance by funds that actively seek economic empowerment of women, agency bonds that provide loans for female-run businesses, and private equity investment into female-focused financial tech start-ups with such services opening up an estimated $40 billion to global revenue for financial services companies.
5. Access to telecommunication: to target the disparity in telecommunication access, providing capital to businesses that actively participate in making technology accessible for women or alternatively investing in female-run technology start-ups are effective strategies to create an expected additional US$20 billion in global revenue in the telecommunications sector by 2025.
6. Access to education: investment into private companies that develop scalable education business models such as EdTech are an example of effective investment into female education for greater opportunities to participate in the labour market, contribute to economic growth and improve their ability to become increasingly independent through higher incomes.
7. Access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene: allocating capital towards innovative companies that have emerging markets as their focus sector or green bond funds that work on improving the environment can materially improve the hours spend in search for safe drinking water and fewer contraction of water-borne diseases.
8. Access to adequate housing and living conditions: by funding real-estate investment trusts that have the mission to provide affordable housing or public fixed-income funds that help finance low-income housing estates, women can enjoy secure and affordable living quarters which can strengthen healthier living conditions and access to employment.