From Cornerstone Capital: Recently, Cornerstone Capital’s Head of Impact Strategy, Katherine Pease, sat down for an in-depth discussion with two leading figures in the field of gender-focused investment and philanthropy, to discuss the role that investors and finance can play in addressing gender-based violence in companies and society. Teresa Younger is the President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women. A noted speaker, advocate, and activist, Teresa has been on the frontlines of some of the most important battles for women’s health, safety and economic justice. Joy Anderson is the founder and president of Criterion Institute. Criterion is a leading think tank focused on using finance as a tool for social change. Criterion played a significant role in creating and building the field of gender lens investing and continues to shape how gender matters in the analyses, structures, and processes of investment and finance.The discussion centered on the following questions:

• What is changing in the field around gender-based violence?
• How can we embrace this moment to facilitate change?
• What data is available, and what data and disclosures do we need going forward?
• What are the key questions that investors can start asking today?
• What can investors do to support the effort to address gender-based violence in companies and society?
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It was evident that society’s awareness of gender-based violence and the impact of gender issues more broadly is evolving. Teresa referred to the “spiral process” of understanding the challenges and potential solutions—i.e., we learn more about a subject each time the topic is encountered, expanding our knowledge and our ability to tackle this difficult issue.