Let’s talk about Women in Finance?
At GoParity, this conversation started on the 8th of March (International Women’s Day). We wondered whether we should be celebrating women on that day in particular. We were quick to conclude that a post on social media wasn’t really a celebration. We then asked ourselves what we were doing to avoid gender bias. This led to a team meeting around the issue. We realised that we had no official positioning on the topic or really know much about it, apart from common sense. Here’s how we are tackling it.
Digging into Data 📈
We had read about the gender pay gap or gender bias in tech-related jobs. We were also aware of the gap in the financial sector — we found that women have as much access to financial services as men in just 60% of the countries.
The numbers in the social sector. Nuno has worked in the sustainability sector for a long time now, and he always felt he was surrounded by women. So, we thought that maybe in social enterprises, the female role was slightly more positive. And it is: women are almost twice as likely to reach the top ranks in social enterprises than they are in mainstream businesses.
The numbers in crowdfunding. The highest representation for women comes in the donation-based model, where women account for 70% of the fundraisers and 49% of the funders. In peer-to-peer business lending, only 33% of the fundraisers and 20% of the funders are women.
The numbers at GoParity. Only 5 of our projects (out of 39) have women on the board. From these, only 3 have women CEOs. On the other hand, only 18% of our investors are women and their investments correspond to 17% ot the 2M€ we have financed so far — they are fewer and invest less. Finally, we are 13 on the team — 8 of us are women. We have 4 C-Levels, 3 are founders, all are men.
We Commit to… 👩
Having in mind our mission to promote parity and democratize finance, we commit to:
#1 Being transparent on our gender gap 🕵️♀️
We will update you on our gender gap (across promoters and investors) every quarter. Hopefully, you will watch us grow positively. Help us by sharing GoParity with your women friends. Use your voucher code and get 5€ for every new investor.
#2 Giving the stage to women and promoting their representation 🎤
We believe in the importance of role modeling. This is why we want other women to learn about the women on the board of our promoter companies. We already started below and we will include the gender of people on the board on every project page.
#3 Raising awareness about the topic 💬
We want to start a conversation. From today onwards, we will be sharing more information about this topic in our communication channels (email, social media).
#4 Not being gender-biased in our communication 📣
We will work towards equal representation of men and women in our communication and we will keep communicating in a gender-neutral way.
Our Women CEOs 👩💼
We want to give the stage to Susanne, Joana, Susana, and Catarina. They are the leaders of our projects with Escola Sueca, Quinta Alma, and Balluta, respectively. Together, their initiatives have helped contribute to sustainable production and consumption, the reduction of CO2 emissions, and the protection of biodiversity.
Escola Sueca by Susanne
Installation of 22 photovoltaic panels and LED lighting in a school, preventing the emission of about 2 tonnes of CO2 annually, the equivalent to planting 110 trees.
Quinta Alma by Joana
Increase the self-sufficiency capacity of an eco-tourism retreat in Aljezur by recovering a lake area, increasing photovoltaic capacity and enhancing green spaces.
Balluta by Susana and Catarina
International expansion of a vegan luxury footwear brand with the core mission to encourage sustainable and responsible consumption and production patterns.
