The US SIF Foundation has launched a guide for investors seeking to advance the position of women in business, steering investors to strategies, indices and funds that seek to support gender parity and highlighting a series of activist investors that push for greater female representation on boards and related issues.
The 12-page guide, addressed to both institutional and retail investors, outlines ‘gender lens products’ such as the Morgan Stanley Parity Portfolio, which focuses on board representation; the Barclays Women in Leadership Total Return Index, which tracks companies where women serve as CEO or make up at least a quarter of the board; and the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund, which invests in companies based on their policies toward women.
It also encourages proxy voting and shareholder engagement on gender issues with a section outlining efforts of groups such as the Thirty Percent Coalition, which has organized letter-writing campaigns by investors to pressure companies to appoint women to leadership positions. The section also details strategies such as the use of shareholder resolutions to pressure companies into improving working conditions for women.
‘A growing body of evidence suggests there is not only a moral argument for investing in women, but a business case as well,’ the guide’s authors write. ‘This guide is intended to help make investors more aware of their ability to help advance opportunities for women through a range of financial products and through shareowner engagement.’
The guide further outlines impact-investment opportunities, lists banks, credit unions and loan funds that have policies of promoting women in business, and steers investors to US SIF members that offer services such as investment advice geared to further women’s rights.
As a reference, the document points to the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles document, which calls for the establishment of high-level corporate leadership for gender equality, the promotion of professional development for women, measurement and public disclosure of gender equality issues, and other steps.
