I just finished reading the book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado Perez. The author reports a wide range of data, research and empirical cases of a world built and designed by and for men, which ignores the needs of women, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Many are the examples: telephones that are too big for a woman's hand, drug prescriptions that are wrong for woman’s body, low participation of women in political life.
Investments are no exception. There are some unique considerations for women in investments that are often overlooked. Women make up about half of the world's population, and typically live longer than men. Across the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, the average life expectancy (at birth) is 83.4 years for women compared to 78.1 for men. Single person households now represent 10%–30% of all OECD households depending on the age category; and the number is increasing.
