'Gender aware and gender sensitive': European bank's new lending criteria

Article here. Excerpt:

'The European Investment Bank (EIB), the money-lending arm of the EU, is to launch a new gender strategy to increase women’s participation in global economies.

From 1 January the bank will implement new rules designed to ensure its lending will help women and men equally, following growing evidence of the economic advantages of female equality.

According to the bank, up to $12tn could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality. It says the public, private, and social sectors need to act to close gender gaps in work and society, and acknowledges that it, along with other multilateral development bank, has a seminal role to play in making this happen.

Eleni Kyrou, senior social development specialist at the EIB, said the bank wanted to be “gender aware and gender sensitive”, so that its investments benefit women and men equally. “We are saying let’s have the gender lens, be aware of gender structural dynamics on the ground and really try to invest cognisant of this,” she said.'