The Young Foundation has today published a new report calling for government and the wider UK social investment sector to increase their use of  ‘gender lens investing’.

The research shows that despite being a global leader in social investment, the UK has a blind spot when it comes to gender and is losing out on investment opportunities.

Gender lens investing  (GLI) uses capital to simultaneously generate financial return and advance gender equality. The research looks at why and how gender lens investing is being used internationally and how the UK currently compares.

It sets out a compelling body of evidence, from sources that range from the United Nations to corporate giants McKinsey which found that investments which empower women and girls and/or take on gender considerations more broadly, are delivering increased or more secure financial return.

However the research finds that while the vast majority of surveyed investors strongly agree they have a key role in advancing gender equality, very few are actually putting a gender lens into practice:

• Only one social investor from a national sample says they assess the gender equality impact of their investments.

Read the executive summary of the report here or the full report.