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Gender Finance Task Force announces action plan
Luxembourg’s finance minister (CSV) presented in April 2024 a 10-point action plan to guide the ministry’s efforts over the next five years in developing the country’s sustainable financial ecosystem. One of these points included boosting gender finance and driving increased gender equality. More details on this topic came in a published by the finance ministry on July 4, 2024.
Established in 2023 by the Luxembourg Ministry of Finance, the Gender Finance Hub is designed to “support, boost and stimulate gender finance within the Luxembourg financial centre”. It aims to identify opportunities that can be seized by individual actors or through collaborations between the public and private sectors.
“We must do more to increase women’s representation in finance and consider gender perspectives in the development of financial products and services,” Roth said in the statement. “As a ministry, we will continue to work with financial sector decision-makers and other stakeholders to develop actionable solutions and elevate Luxembourg to a center of excellence in gender finance.”
Seven key elements
The task force’s action plan, which focuses on “women in finance” and “finance for women,” highlighted seven key points.
1. Elevating women to leadership in finance building a network for women in finance, promoting mentoring, supporting career development and improving female representation in leadership roles in the financial sector.
two. Develop an attractive learning offer for women in finance, working with partners to develop training and reskilling opportunities, fostering collaboration between the financial sector and educational institutions, and showcasing successful and diverse role models to break down stereotypes and attract female talent.
3. Promoting gender-smart products and services encouraging the development of financial products and services that meet the specific needs of women, raising awareness and linking financial product innovation to gender.
4. Measuring and managing gender balance drawing on the Women in Finance Charter dataset to develop indicators that can help achieve more gender balance and inclusion, as well as identify areas of underrepresentation.
5. Engage to speak the “same language” establishing a working definition of gender finance, assessing the applicability of standards and integrating gender considerations into decision-making.
6. Drive innovation and acceleration bringing together stakeholders to help overcome barriers, promote financial inclusion, drive positive change through finance and advance gender-responsive investing.
7. Encourage dialogue and talent engagement promoting and communicating about gender finance, improving awareness and understanding, and contributing to talent acquisition and retention initiatives.