Parallelle Finance
Gender Lens Investing
Gender Lens Investing 2023 examines fourth-quarter performance and composition of gender lens equity funds and provides updates on gender lens fixed income and women in the workplace and economy. The review also includes:
The Global Women’s Economy: Count Us In.
[Read more…] about Gender Lens Investing 2023The Gender Lens Scorecard applies five grade levels to four categories, each comprised of scores from sub-categories and indicators. Taken together, the categories assess both the fund and the asset management firm on gender equality in investment criteria, holdings, portfolio management team, and firm-wide leadership, as well as the fund’s performance and overall ESG approach. The Scorecard encompasses more than 25 distinct metrics. For 2023, we will publish Scorecard rankings for June 30 and December 31.
[Read more…] about Year-end 2022 Gender Lens Scorecard UpdateThese introductory stats provide a short summary of investment criteria, fee info, investment style, number of holdings, and the percent of women’s representation on the portfolio management team. All gender lens equity funds (GLEFs) in our coverage universe employ investment criteria centered on women-in-leadership thresholds, and many have additional stated criteria on broad-based corporate gender metrics. Most of these funds utilize ESG screens. These are generally multi- and large-cap funds. According to Morningstar data on mutual funds and ETFs, 14% of all portfolio managers globally are women (11% in the U.S.), a figure which has not changed in the last decade. Among GLEFs, the available data shows that management teams are well ahead on this front with an average of over 50% female portfolio managers.
[Read more…] about Gender Lens Equity Funds: Key StatsOur coverage universe incorporates several families of gender lens equity indexes, including a suite of global and regional Solactive Equileap indexes, a group of MSCI women’s leadership indexes with a focus on women at board and leadership levels, two FTSE Russell women’s leadership indexes, and a family of Morningstar gender lens indexes constructed from Equileap data. There is also a collection of stand-alone gender lens equity indexes. Key stats for the gender lens indexes are found in the table below.
[Read more…] about Gender Lens Index StatsA widely documented body of research has demonstrated that companies with higher levels of women in leadership (WIL) have superior performance in several areas, including higher returns on capital, better productivity, and higher stock price performance. During the initial years after the financial crisis of 2008-9, financial and economic research established the positive performance impact of female participation at the board and senior management levels of large corporations. Since then, a number of studies have consistently shown the financial and performance benefits of gender diversity in corporate leadership – and have demonstrated that companies who lag on diverse leadership also lag in performance. The following is an overview of key studies in this area.
[Read more…] about Gender Lens Investing: Diverse Corporate Leadership Outperforms
