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The business models of these five companies illustrate the possibilities for eradicating gender-based violence BY JOY ANDERSON AND TIA SUBRAMANIAN Reducing gender-based violence has long been a focus of the social sector, but little thinking has been done about how these efforts intersect with business and finance. Criterion Institute, a nonprofit think tank that works to expand the number of people who see themselves as able to affect financial systems to achieve social good, launched a program in 2017 focused on using finance to address gender-based violence. One of the tactics Criterion has employed is supporting companies that are having a positive impact on gender-based violence. Gender-based violence is rooted in the power dynamics and imbalances that arise from assumptions about gender norms in any given circumstance — dynamics that are also influenced by factors such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Looking at how a given company impacts gender-based violence must take two forms: 1) analyzing how its policies, practices, and culture affect its own employees of different genders, races, etc., and 2) analyzing how the compa-
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ny’s business model and offerings may be addressing the incidences or root causes of gender-based violence in the outside world. The importance of doing these analyses when creating or assessing a company has been highlighted by the spate of revelations in the past year about how various companies have been encouraging or covering up instances of gender-based violence. The consequences so far have varied, but the scrutiny is here to stay, and investors increasingly understand the risk that public revelations of violence can pose to a company’s bottom line. In short: assessing how companies deal with gender-based violence is non-negotiable for responsible investors. Criterion’s most straightforward strategy for using finance to effect positive social change is to take capital away from companies that negatively impact the issue in question and direct capital toward companies that are having a positive effect. As part of Criterion’s broader work, the institute has identified a portfolio of more than 25 for-profit companies that are
CONSCIOUS COMPANY MAGAZINE
addressing gender-based violence. The following five companies are diverse in terms of their goals as well as the ways in which they are having a positive influence. Gender-based violence is complex and rooted in a host of cultural, economic, and social factors; accordingly, these companies are tackling the issue at different levels. Some have developed business models that enable them to financially support nonprofits that provide services to survivors of violence; another is working to reshape cultural norms with alternative consumer entertainment; still another is publicly refusing to adopt practices within its own sector that protect perpetrators and further gender-based violence while also training survivors of violence to build careers. Be sure to conduct your own due diligence before undertaking any investment; Criterion intends these cases to merely illustrate the possibilities: there are myriad ways companies can reduce the incidences of gender-based violence and myriad ways for consumers and investors to support them.
