Gender Lens Corporate Archives

Naomi Osaka’s Play Academy Branches Out to LA and Haiti

Play Academy with Naomi Osaka is expanding to Los Angeles and Haiti to continue to change the lives of girls through play and sport.

Play Academy with Naomi Osaka was launched in 2020 to create real change in the lives of girls. (Image credit: Nike)

Announced in August of 2020, Play Academy with Naomi Osaka was created in partnership with Laureus Sport for Good with the goal to help change young girls’ lives through play and sport. Building on its work in Japan, Play Academy is expanding to Los Angeles and Haiti, collaborating with local sport-based organizations that are helping encourage a new definition of movement for the next generation of girls.

Essential to Play Academy is Osaka’s personal experiences as an athlete, set by a rich transcontinental heritage that has shaped her views on sport, racial and gender equality and mentorship. With a mission so close to her heart, Osaka wanted to champion those causes in communities she knows and is deeply connected to – starting in Japan, where she was born, and continuing to Los Angeles and Haiti, where she currently lives and where her father is from, respectively.

Texas Women’s Fdn Event Spotlights Outstanding Gender Lens Leaders

The Texas Women’s Foundation (TWF) held its Leadership Forum and Awards Celebration on April 29^th, honoring the trailblazing women making a difference for both Texas and the world. From 10 AM to 12 PM, thousands joined in on the virtual celebration, discussions, and moments of gratitude. The event served to highlight how, particularly since COVID, women’s leadership offers particular value and potential.

The celebration honored five Maura Women Helping Women Award recipients and two Young Leader Award recipients. The Maura award enters its 42^nd year with over 200 past honorees who have and are implementing drastic advancement opportunities for women and girls. The Young Leader Award highlights women leaders under 40 who, through their own accomplishments, are shaping the roads of progress for women everywhere.

Norton Ends Publishing Philip Roth Bio, Pledges Six Figures for Survivors

The literary world has been rocked by a recent scandal that impacts funding for women and girls.

Blake Bailey, the authorized biographer for prominent American writer Philip Roth, has been accused of multiple sexual assaults against women. As a result, on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, W. W. Norton announced that it would permanently stop publishing Philip Roth: The Biography and would donate the same amount as Mr. Bailey’s advance on the book (described as a mid six figures amount) to “to organizations that support sexual assault survivors and victims of sexual harassment.”

Blake Bailey’s biography of Philip Roth will no longer be published by Norton, and Norton will donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to support sexual assault survivors. (Image credit: Amazon Books)

From the New York Times:

Mastercard Invests Millions in Venture Capital with Fearless Fund

Fearless Fund, a venture capital fund built to support women of color, has received a huge investment from Mastercard.

Mastercard has made a muti-million dollar investment to Fearless Fund to help black-owned businesses (Image credit: Fearless Fund)

Black women are building and growing businesses faster than any other segment and yet receive less than one percent of venture capital funding. In addition, only three percent of the people actually leading investments at VC firms are Black according to the National Venture Capital Association. To help further access to funding for Black women, Mastercard today announced a multi-million dollar investment in Fearless Fund, a venture capital fund built by women of color for women of color.

How is Bank of America Responding to the Rise in Anti-Asian Hate?

In response to the rise in anti-Asian hate in the U.S., Bank of America has increased its commitment to racial equality to $1.25 billion.

Bank of America announced a $1B commitment over four years in June 2020, but has decided to increase the donation in response to the rise in anti-Asian hate. (Image credit: Bank of America)

Bank of America today announced that it has increased its $1 billion, four-year commitment to advance racial equality and economic opportunity to $1.25 billion over five years. This effort further accelerates work already underway to address racial equality and opportunity through direct actions, investments and work to catalyze similar efforts across the private sector.

PepsiCo Boosts Women Biz Owners, Fights Hunger with New Grants

PepsiCo is popping the tab on a new funding program for women-led small businesses.

Through two of its charitable arms, Food for Good and WomanMade, PepsiCo recently announced the launch of its Food for Good Meal Solutions program, which offers women-led small businesses the resources and scaling strategies necessary to fight childhood hunger.

PepsiCo’s latest charitable initiative takes a multipronged approach: Fighting childhood hunger, supporting women-led small businesses, and providing pandemic relief all at once. (**Image Credit:** PepsiCo)

Supporting two of the food and beverage giant’s social campaigns — Food for Good, which combats childhood hunger, and WomanMade, which supports women-led small businesses in the US — this new campaign connects female entrepreneurs with the funding they need to produce reliable, effective products that will help end childhood hunger.

Fiona McKay: Financial Sector Must Evolve to Prioritize Social Returns

Fiona McKay’s website asks a simple but striking question: What would the world look like if more women controlled the money? It’s a question I often find myself pondering, too, as a social worker, a small businesswoman, a parent, and a gender equality activist.

A person with blonde hair

Description automatically generated with low confidence — Fiona McKay, author of the report, Trailblazing Women in Investment. (Image Credit: Fiona McKay)

McKay isn’t just pondering this profound question, though. She’s actively doing research on the way that gender norms shape our experiences, particularly in the financial sector. She is the author of Trailblazing Women in Investment, a new report that discusses gender lens investing and the barriers that women still face with controlling the money in finance.

Exposé: Which Companies Are Failing the Gender Pay Scorecard?

More than half of the companies received an “F” that were rated on the Arjuna Capital and Proxy Impact “Racial and Gender Pay Scorecard”.

The 4th edition of the "Racial and Gender Pay Scorecard" analyzed the quantitative disclosures of 51 companies worldwide. (Image credit: Arjuna Capital and Proxy Impact) — The 4th edition of the “Racial and Gender Pay Scorecard” analyzed the quantitative disclosures of 51 companies worldwide. (Image credit: Arjuna Capital and Proxy Impact)

Of 51 companies examined in the “Racial and Gender Pay Scorecard” released on March 23rd to mark Equal Pay Day, fewer than one in 10 — Mastercard, Starbucks, Pfizer, Citigroup, and Bank of New York Mellon – get an “A,” while over half (26) get an “F.”

The 4^th edition of the Scorecard is being released by the investment management firm Arjuna Capital and Proxy Impact. The grades are based on quantitative disclosures (versus qualitative assurances) by companies taking concrete steps to close racial and gender pay gaps. The 51 companies in the ranking have all been engaged by investors through the shareholder proposal process and asked to improve their public pay equity disclosures.

Howmet Aerospace Fdn Joins with Women’s Network to Make Grants

The Howmet Aerospace Foundation recently reaffirmed its commitment to diversity and pledged $335K to gender equality non-profits in 2020. Funds were directed in collaboration with the Howmet Women’s Network.

The Howmet Aerospace Foundation outlined where its $335K in grants went during 2020 while also reaffirming its commitment to diversity. (Image credit: Business Wire)

(March, 2021) Howmet Aerospace Foundation announced it reaffirms its commitment to diversity and inclusion by working closely with Howmet Aerospace employee resource groups to identify grant opportunities reflecting the rich diversity of its employees. In collaboration with members of the Howmet Women’s Network, the Foundation granted a total of $335,000 last year to non-profits benefiting women and girls around the globe.

Announcing Recipients of The Fifth Third Foundation’s Grant Program

The Fifth Third Foundation’s Innovation Meets Main Street program has announced the black, women-owned businesses receiving $1.2M in grants.

Launched in September 2020, the Innovation Meets Main Street program was designed to empower black, women-owned businesses throughout the U.S. (Image credit: Fifth Third Foundation)

The Fifth Third Foundation announced the recipients of $1.2 million in grants for Black, woman-owned businesses and the organizations that serve them through the Innovation Meets Main Street: Boosting Black, Woman-owned Businesses program, which was announced in September 2020.

The initiative was a partnership between Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and was completely powered by Fifth Third as a part of a larger $8.75 million pledge to support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Category: Gender Lens Corporate