Our Story
Some Equileap team members in Amsterdam, June 2019
Equileap was launched in 2016 by Diana van Maasdijk and Jo Andrews, two professionals who have significant experience in philanthropy and specialise in women’s rights. Their mission was to take a leap towards gender equality in the workplace, and laying out the data to show why that leap was so important.
Diana, CEO at Equileap, had a background in philanthropy services at ABN AMRO Bank after having worked as Director of Development at international women’s fund Mama Cash. This experience led her to ask if it might be possible to leverage the power of investing to improve the position of women and girls.
Much of the data already out there just focuses on women on boards. Equileap was the first to assess and rank thousands of companies across the world on gender equality based on 19 criteria, thus providing a unique and comprehensive database. Equileap’s data and gender equality indices have been used by dozens of financial products over the past few years, allowing investors to align their portfolio with their values.
Equileap is now recognised as the leading organisation providing data and insights on gender equality in the corporate sector. Any net profits from the licensing of the indices and the data will go to the Equileap Foundation, helping women and girls in developing countries.
