Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.c.1 “Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment” has been recently reclassified as Tier II by the Inter-Agency Expert Group on SDGs. The indicator measures progress towards Target 5c of the SDGs to “adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels”. It links the policy and legal requirements for gender equality with resource allocations for their implementation. By tracking resource allocations, governments introduce deliberate measures into the planning and budgeting cycle to meet their gender policy objectives such as eliminating gender based violence or increasing women’s employment. By making these allocations public, governments commit to higher levels of transparency and accountability in budget decision making.

'The State of Gender Lens Investing' presents a survey of the current state of the field, makes sense of tensions and trends in the field and recommends directions and action by a wide variety of participants, such as philanthropists, investors, nonprofit leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, activists and academics.