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Global gender diversity and equality indexes have been developed to promote gender diversity and equality at the country level, but it is difficult to see how those indexes are applied to organizations on a daily basis. The purpose of this study is to examine the application of environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures for gender diversity and equality at the organizational level in a Korean context.

Based on the institutional theory, the authors reviewed ESG measures for gender diversity and equality of women funds in four countries (USA, Canada, UK and Japan) and examined The Women Fund in Korea through document analysis and interviews.

ESG measures in four countries’ women funds mainly assessed the percentage of women in the workforce, on boards and in leadership positions. In The Women Fund, gender diversity indicators consider the ratio of female to male employees, while gender equality indicators take into account gaps of male and female salaries and positions. This study’s impact analysis indicates that the companies invested in by The Women Fund had higher return on assets and return on equity than those without the fund.

Although women funds explored in this study exemplify the use of ESG measures to apply global gender diversity and equality indexes at the organizational level, research is needed to examine ESG measures and women funds and their associations. Possible topics include what needs to be measured in ESG, who should be involved, how ESG measures should be applied, what outcomes of using ESG measures would ensue in organizations and how ESG measures relate to regional and global gender diversity.

In promoting ESG measures that apply global gender diversity and equality at the organizational level, human resource development practitioners, as change agents, can help organizations develop socially responsible and ethical behaviors and transform organizational culture, practice and systems, which may influence organizations’ long-term survival and development as well as financial performance.

As the government’s support and policies guide and drive firms to develop and implement initiatives and programs, the launch and implementation of gender diversity and equality at the organizational level in the form of women funds require a certain level of collaboration between the government and the private sector.

This study on the application of ESG measures for global gender diversity and equality at the organizational level in the form of women funds is timely to engage organizations in dialogue regarding what needs to be done to promote women’s participation and leadership roles in organizations in Korea and other countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the change in pension fund board diversity after self-regulation was introduced, and investigate which pension fund characteristics influence compliance with self-regulation. In addition, the authors analyze whether compliance might be achieved by tokenism.

The authors hand-collect pension fund and pension fund board data of the largest (by assets) 200 pension funds in the Netherlands. The authors compare descriptive statistics on board diversity, perform statistical tests on these, and perform non-linear regression techniques to investigate which pension fund characteristics influence compliance.

The findings are fourfold. First, over the past three years, pension fund boards have only marginally improved on gender and age diversity. In April 2014, still more than 35 percent of the funds had no women on the board, and an overwhelming 60 percent had no members below 40 years of age. This indicates that self-regulation in the pension fund industry so far has not been effective for the industry as a whole. Second, the authors find that pension funds that have larger boards are more likely to have at least one woman on the board or at least one member below 40 years of age. Third, boards of pension funds with more assets are less likely to have young board members. Fourth, boards with at least one female have a higher probability of also having at least one member below 40 years, which is suggestive of tokenism.

Based on Hirschman’s (1970) theory of voice and exit, the authors expect that pension fund boards would be more diverse than corporate boards. However, the authors find that this is not the case. Second, given the importance of generational value transfers in pension fund policy decisions, the authors expect that age is a more important diversity characteristic than gender for pension fund boards in the Netherlands. Again, the data does not support this prediction.

Consistent with the literature on diversity in corporate boards, the authors find that diverse boards are on average larger. This suggests that, all other things equal, small boards might want to reconsider whether increasing their size would lead to more diversity and hence to more voice for participants that cannot exit the pension scheme. If larger funds hesitate to include young members because of their lack of relevant skills, then the authors would recommend setting up a platform to educate young candidates and prepare them for board membership. Forced independent auditor verification, as in the UK, might be a fruitful action the regulator could enforce on pension funds going forward. However, if that also does not lead to a significant improvement, compulsory diversity quota might be the only option left for policy makers.

This paper contributes to the literature in at least three ways. First, the authors analyze whether self-regulation on diversity in pension fund boards has been effective. Second, the authors determine which pension fund characteristics are associated with more board diversity. Third, the authors shed light on tokenism in pension fund board composition: Diversity might be obtained through installing diversity tokens, which are individuals who have multiple diversity characteristics.

This paper seeks to promote an understanding of gender effects on retirement plan participation as a function of fund assortment size.

A decision simulation was conducted among 349 US adults whose task was to invest in a hypothetical 401(k) retirement plan. The number of mutual funds offered for investment was varied and the effects on the incidence and extent of participation observed.

The results indicate that larger fund assortments tend to reduce participation among women, but increase it among men.

Replication in other contexts and with other data sets would be worthwhile.

To enhance retirement plan adoption/participation, financial service firms may want to tailor such plans according to gender (and other consumer characteristics) according to the present set of findings.

First time authors are aware that the interaction between gender and assortment size is examined.

The purpose of this study is to assess reasons behind experienced challenges by local government authorities (LGAs) in operating Women, Youth and People with Disabilities Fund (WYDF) in Tanzania. Specifically, it assesses the reasons behind failures to recover loan by LGAs and groups of Women, Youth and People with Disability (WYPWD).

The qualitative approach was recruited in this study involving Tunduru District Council as a case study. Data were collected through Interviews, Focus Group Discussion and Documentary Review. Interviews were administered to Community Development Officers (CDOs) while FGD to WYPWD groups. Reviewed documents include laws, regulations and publications on social development funds. Data were analyzed using content analysis approach and backed up by quotations during presentation.

Failures to recover loans from beneficiaries is attributed to weaknesses of both groups and LGAs. LGAs suffer from lack of capability to manage the fund, poor governance practices and misuse of public funds, and groups lack awareness of the fund's goals.

Due to experienced challenges, efforts by groups and LGAs to reclaim loan have been unsuccessful, which has prevented the fund from achieving its goals.

The central government should concentrate on ongoing LGAs capacity building so that they can successfully handle the fund, it is advised for improvement. Again, LGAs should establish an information system linked with groups to track their projects implementation. Once more, groups should be informed about the purpose of creating the fund and the advantages of the loan to them and to local economic development (LED). Furthermore, groups need entrepreneurial abilities to be able to participate in businesses that they can manage. Moreover, organizations should receive ongoing education so that they may repay the loan voluntarily.

Community awareness on the aims of the fund should be provided to impact LED.

Recommendations given can be applied by other developing countries struggling to uplift citizens economically through social development funds.

Women entrepreneurs face a myriad of challenges in running their enterprises, such as inadequate market information for their products or services, lack of marketing skills, insufficient capital to start and run the business and unfavourable policies in county governments among others, leading to unwillingness to participate in businesses. To overcome these challenges, a number of initiatives had been put in place as a way of empowering these women, for example, Women Enterprise and Development Fund (WEDF) aimed at financing and sustenance of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Despite these initiatives, women continue to lag behind in terms of entrepreneurship leading to this study to unearth underlying issues pertaining to women entrepreneurship and empowerment. The study was guided by the following objectives: to determine the effects of WEDF loans on women empowerment, to evaluate accessibility of credit by women entrepreneurs, to establish the role of capacity building on the performance of women enterprises and to establish the effects of women enterprises on household livelihoods. This study is significant as it aimed at establishing the relationship between gender enterprise in relation to women empowerment by use of descriptive and explanatory research designs. The study targeted 246 women entrepreneurs in Eldoret whereby 51 respondents were sampled randomly who were issued with questionnaires having closed- and open-ended questions. Secondary data obtained from the banks were also used to enhance the accuracy of the data. The study established that WEDF loans had a positive effect on women empowerment and an improved household livelihood. On accessibility of loans, a few entrepreneurs had benefitted as women were required to be in groups in order to benefit and in addition, have collaterals. Performance of business enterprises owned by women who possessed marketing skills was good as opposed to those without the skills necessitating capacity building. The study therefore recommends that there is a need to encourage vulnerable groups to participate in economic development and women entrepreneurs to form groups which will enable them do table banking hence making them financially empowered.

The case pertains to entrepreneurship and the struggles of microentrepreneurs in raising adequate funds. It highlights the insufficiencies in implementation of government’s financing schemes for microenterprises. The case also throws light on the difficulties faced by microentrepreneurs in raising capital through banks and more so if the entrepreneur happens to be a woman. This case revolves around a young woman microentrepreneur, from a humble background, who is determined to expand her orthopaedic-support manufacturing unit. It brings out the enormous difficulties faced by her in obtaining an adequate financing through banks despite many laid out government policies to provide relief and stability to microenterprises. The ardent pursuit and the innovatively designed marketing strategy helped the entrepreneur achieve a reasonable success, in spite of the lack of capital. Her revenue for the financial year 2014–2015 rose to Rs. 9 lakhs/per annum. Her projected revenue for 2015–2016 was Rs. 24 lakhs. The ambitious target seemed difficult if additional funds were not forthcoming. With no help from the banks, the entrepreneur was in a dilemma where to raise the funds from. Her long-term plans for growth would be badly affected.

Using data for the period 1965–2016, we investigate whether there are systematic differences between the investment performance of Black fund managers and those of other races in South Africa and whether investors recognize these differences. The two-tailed test results show that there is no significant difference between the two means considering the 12 months yield return at a hypothesized mean difference of zero. There is no statistical difference at 5% level of significance implying that the performance of Black fund managers is as equally as that of managers of other races. Our results also show that the percentage of Black fund managers in South Africa is still too low even as the workforce gets diverse. There's no single explanation for what is happening in this industry. The findings cannot be explained by differences in fund characteristics such as age, total assets under management or expenses or from the performance lenses. The results seem hard to reconcile with an explanation of differences in portfolio characteristics such as return volatility or market, size, value and momentum exposures.

We test the glass cliff hypothesis by employing conditional logistic regression (CLR). The approach enables the use of case/control style of analysis where White/majority fund managers are the control population and professional minorities are the case group. The selection of these as fund managers is our event or outcome variable. To test savior effect hypothesis, we employ analysis of variance (ANOVA). The technique enables us to compare variances between the groups: when a White male fund manager replaces a professional minority, when a White male fund manager replaces a White male fund manager and when a professional minority replaces a professional minority.

Our analyses so far have documented a woeful underrepresentation of Black fund managers in South Africa's mutual funds industry. We explore potential explanations for these trends. Our analysis is meant to be suggestive. Are Blacks, women, people of color and ethnic minorities finding success in the investment industry? Are they having rewarding and fulfilling careers? Or is the industry still homogenous (just a White man's world) with a thin veneer of diversity layered on for public relations effect? The percentage of Black fund managers in South Africa is still too low even as the workforce gets diverse. There is no single explanation for what is happening in this industry. The findings cannot be explained by differences in fund characteristics such as age, total assets under management or expenses or from the performance lenses. Also, the results seem hard to reconcile with an explanation of differences in portfolio characteristics such as return volatility or market, size, value and momentum exposures.

The two-tailed test results show that there is no significant difference between the two means considering the 12 months yield return at a hypothesized mean difference of zero. There is no statistical difference at 5% level of significance. Our results so far establish that, ceteris paribus, the performance of Black fund managers is as equally as that of managers of other races.

The two-tailed test results show that there is no significant difference between the two means considering the 12 months yield return at a hypothesized mean difference of zero. There is no statistical difference at 5% level of significance. Our results so far establish that, ceteris paribus, the performance of Black fund managers is as equally important as that of managers of other races.

The two-tailed test results show that there is no significant difference between the two means considering the 12 months yield return at a hypothesized mean difference of zero. There is no statistical difference at 5% level of significance. Our results so far establish that, ceteris paribus, the performance of Black fund managers is as equally important as that of managers of other races.

This paper investigates whether there are systematic differences between the investment performance of Black fund managers and those of other races in South Africa and whether investors recognize these differences. Our hypothesis is that due to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) laws in the country and possibly, due to a perception of discrimination in the market, it is only Black fund managers with superior fund management skills that enter the profession. As such, we expect to find superior performance among Black fund managers. We also conjecture that investors recognize this phenomenon and reward Black fund managers with more fund flows and more investment mandates than others.

The marginalisation of female entrepreneurs in accessing credit is well documented. Yet, how female entrepreneurs navigate through the marginalisation to gain funding is under-explored.

The authors address this gap using qualitative data from 30 female entrepreneurs in three neighbourhoods with varying socio-economic characteristics in Ghana's capital, Accra.

The authors find a marked aversion to bank loans among respondents. Consequently, they nurtured trust in their social circles in order to facilitate access to informal credit from internal (e.g. family and friends) and external (e.g. trade credit, associations and religious organisations) sources. This aversion to loans from formal financial institutions (FFIs) had a socio-cultural aspect, including cumbersome application procedures, a deep-rooted fear of the social consequences of defaulting and religious prohibition against interest payment for Islamic traders.

This paper shows that providing formal access to credit is not enough to support women's entrepreneurship if the socio-cultural factors inhibiting women's access to credit from FFIs are not addressed.

The findings suggest that trust is an important factor that bridges the gap in female entrepreneurs' access to funding given their heavy reliance on informal sources of funding.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2023-0090

Women in entrepreneurship can have a significant impact on economic and social development globally and particularly in developing countries. But the challenges entrepreneurial women face are unique and multiple, pressing the need for research and policies to maximize impact. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges women start-up founders face to secure funding in the technology industry. The tech industry was selected because it is a non-traditional industry for women with high potential for role models to bridge an existing gap in information on women start-up founders to secure capital financing to attain business sustainability. It covers venture capital investors’ role, Latin American cultural reasons, and gender.

This study is based on an inductive, qualitative approach and in-depth interviews with 20 women entrepreneurs and start-up founders from Latin American countries who received support from the Chilean Government sponsored accelerator “Start-Up Chile.”

The analysis uncovered ten aspects that impact entrepreneurial women founders’ access to capital in three categories: capital needs, networks, and individual characteristics.

This study identifies factors that affect women entrepreneurs in raising capital and in facing the following challenges: first, working in a non-traditional field for women as it is the technology industry, and second assuming a leadership role as start-up founders. The results offer recommendation with potential to drive public policies in Latin America, which may be scalable to other developing and also to developed countries where market systems prevail. The findings show that women entrepreneurs, but also men, seeking start-up financing and alternatives are a viable source of employment and economic sustainability to mitigate the effects of increasing levels of unemployment worldwide.

Globally, the number of women entrepreneurs lags behind the number of men. Understanding how women entrepreneurs can be developed and fostered remains an open avenue of inquiry. One particular area of consideration is the role of other women in supporting and sustaining women’s entrepreneurship. Using social identity theory for our framing, we utilize in-person interviews with various women entrepreneurs across a range of global settings (urban Hong Kong, Singapore, United Kingdom, and rural India) to focus on understanding the roles of other women as they relate to entrepreneurship. Across settings, we found that women entrepreneurs identified four key roles that other women played in developing their ventures. Furthermore, certain roles, such as having a female role model, were critical in rural settings over urban settings. We thus consider the implications of having other women for women’s entrepreneurship broadly.