30 - A deep dive into gender lens investing with a true OG of the movement

If impact investing requires us to address systemic inequalities, and it does, then you can’t claim to be an impact investor and ignore gender equality. Consider that women, girls and gender-diverse people represent half of the earth’s population and that in virtually every culture across the globe, for all of human history, they have been systematically oppressed. In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with Joy Anderson, the Founder and President of Criterion Institute and a true OG of gender lens investing. 

Criterion Institute is a non-profit think tank that works with social change-makers to demystify finance and broaden perspectives on how to engage with and shift financial systems. The core mission of Criterion Institute is to expand the demographic of those who see themselves as able to use finance as a tool for social change. This is achieved by providing resources such as blueprints and toolkits to bring people to the table who normally would not feel welcome. Criterion Institute challenges the structural inequities that create barriers in the finance world, especially as it pertains to women. 

Joy’s interest in social change and systems of power was formulated through her experiences in academia during her undergraduate studies and in her work as a high school teacher in the New York public school system. Joy has since worked in finance for 20 years and was listed in Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011. In founding Good Capital alongside Timothy Freundlich and Kevin Jones, Joy experienced first-hand the opportunities and challenges involved in impact investing. 

During this episode, Joy and I discuss how highly complex jargon creates barriers in the finance industry; the importance of understanding context when moving money to create social good; and the link between increased political risk in investments and rates of gender-based violence. And be sure to stay tuned to the very end where Joy addresses the problem of keeping the finance field binary and the cultural shifts she hopes to see in the future. 

Resources from this episode: 

• Criterion Institute’s Website 
• Criterion’s latest publication: Disrupting Fields: Addressing Power Dynamics in the Fields of Climate Finance and Gender Lens Investing 
• Criterion’s Toolkit for Finance as a Strategy for Social Change 
• Criterion's Blueprints for Social Change for Women's funds, Grassroots organizations, International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and Faith-based organizations
• Follow Criterion on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Follow Joy on Twitter and on LinkedIn