OeEB is committed to contributing to gender equality and to the empowerment of all women and girls. This is why we have anchored promoting gender equality in our strategy and are proud to present our first Gender Action Plan.
Women are affected by several aspects of poverty more than men. As a private sector development bank, we consider it our role to promote women's economic empowerment via our investments. We aim to structure all our business activities in such a way as to avoid discrimination and specifically empower women.
"Investing in women is not only the right thing but also the smart thing to do. Studies show that women make the majority of household purchasing decisions, that gender-diverse boards and senior management teams can lead to better business performance and that women typically invest more strongly in their families or local community which creates positive long-term development effects", says Sabine Gaber, member of OeEB's Executive Board.
Gender Lens Investing
'Gender Lens Investing' is the approach we have chosen. This means, that we will integrate a gender analysis into our financial analysis to make better investment decisions and to achieve gender-equity.
"In making this Gender Action Plan we identified some of the areas where we want to bundle our efforts first. Our aim is not only to incorporate a gender lens in our Environmental and Social Management System or to develop a gender-smart finance offering but also to improve gender awareness and capacity within OeEB", adds Michael Wancata, member of OeEB’s Executive Board.
