The United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (UN SSE) initiative, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and UN Women, is proud to announce the launch of two new reports highlighting the role of capital markets in promoting gender equality.
The reports were released in conjunction with the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) taking place in Spain. At the conference, global leaders are convening to explore strategies for accelerating investment mobilization to advance gender equality.
To effectively accelerate this kind of investment mobilization, two elements are essential: high-quality data grounded in consistent corporate reporting metrics on gender equality, and the growth of gender-themed financial products that enable investors to channel capital toward meaningful gender equality outcomes.
1. Gender Equality Disclosure Metrics: Analysis and recommendations for reducing inconsistencies
Building on the 2024 UN SSE–IFC–UN Women report “Gender Equality Metrics: Analysis of Stock Exchange Guidance,” this new publication provides the first comprehensive comparative assessment of gender-related disclosure metrics issued by stock exchanges and standard setters worldwide.
The study benchmarks these metrics against the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) as shown in the figure below, and reveals key challenges:
- Over two-thirds of stock exchanges encourage gender-related disclosures, yet few align with global standards or adopt consistent terminology.
- Significant gaps remain in disclosures related to Employee Health, Well-being, and Safety (WEP 3), and Community Initiatives & Advocacy (WEP 6) - areas critical to sustainable development.
The report calls for the harmonization of metric definitions, greater accessibility of gender equality data, and a stronger role for exchanges, standard-setters, and regulators in establishing clear, standardized guidance.
2. Gender-Themed Financial Products: An inventory
This report provides a global inventory and analysis of nearly 300 gender-themed financial instruments, including bonds, equity funds, and indices across both developed and emerging markets.
Key insights include:
- Gender-themed financial products remain a niche yet growing segment of the global financial market, with index and market benchmark-based tools comprising a substantial share.
- Government-issued gender bonds are particularly prominent in emerging markets, while gender-themed equity funds hold low asset values and inconsistent alignment with the WEPs as shown in the figure below.
- The absence of standardized definitions, reporting frameworks, and taxonomies contributes to concerns about “gender-washing” - where gender labels may be used without demonstrating real impact.
The report urges greater integration of gender equality into sustainable finance taxonomies, stronger verification mechanisms, and alignment with the WEPs and Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) to ensure gender-lens investments deliver meaningful outcomes.
A Call to Action for Capital Markets and Standard Setters
Together, these two reports represent a call to action to accelerate efforts to mainstream gender equality in public markets. With detailed analysis and actionable recommendations, they offer a strong evidence base to guide policy development, enhance market transparency, and support the creation of impactful, gender-responsive financial systems.
“We are grateful for the collaboration with the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative in driving this important work forward. Applying the lens of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) to this research has sharpened our understanding of where and how progress on gender equality disclosure could be made. The research also highlights the many pathways for mobilizing capital in support of gender equality and provides a strong foundation for action. With clear evidence and practical recommendations now in hand, the opportunity is there for regulators, exchanges, investors, and issuers to accelerate the pace. We know the road to take—and we should have no speed limit.” said Anna Falth, Global Head, WEPS Secretariat, UN Women
“These reports represent an important step forward in aligning capital markets with the goals of gender equality. We are grateful to our partners UN Women and IFC and to the many stakeholders who helped shape this research through focus groups, including Bloomberg, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), IFRS Foundation, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and the UN Global Compact. With clearer evidence and practical tools now in hand, we can support more harmonized disclosure and scale gender-lens investing. The time is now for exchanges, regulators, standard setters, and investors to accelerate progress toward gender equality.” said Dr. Anthony Miller, Chief Coordinator, UN SSE.
Both reports are now available for download at: https://sseinitiative.org/publications
