Athena not only invests in funds that include women within their management and companies that promote women within the workplace via gender lens investing, but also in firms and causes that support gender equality.
For example, Cooper notes that Athena helps clients to access private equity opportunities that invest in companies that bring low-cost sanitary products to Africa, or that provide potable, running water in emerging market countries so women don’t have to walk back and forth to communal wells, or that offer lending focused on women.
“We’ve found that people are broadly interested in issues of diversity and inclusion,” says Burke. “Gender lens investing is a very particular way of approaching that goal; the impact trickles down from investing in companies that benefit and promote women.”
This type of investor feminism can’t merely focus on companies that give equal weight to men and women in the workplace, says Burke, but centers on firms those that emphasize women and women’s causes. After centuries of gender inequality, it’s not enough for society to be inclusive -- women must take precedence.
“Unlike the majority population, women and minorities often do need a protected or preferential status,” Cooper says. “I can say from experience, it’s hard to be a woman in an industry that’s dominated by men. You’re expected to take on male characteristics in order to be successful. For women to be the most successful, they have to be allowed to be themselves. That requires a certain amount of support, and that’s where feminism comes into play.”