Parallelle Finance

Gender Lens Investing

Topic: Analysis

This archive is for analysis and commentary of products and issues related to the gender lens investing asset class as monitored by Parallelle Finance.

Q1 2020 Overview – Gender Lens Equity Funds: The First Major Test

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Amid the unfolding global pandemic and economic downturn, equities plunged during the first quarter. The S&P 500 Index returned -19.6% and the MSCI World Index posted three-month returns of -21.05%, as developed and emerging markets indexes were all down steeply.

Among gender lens indexes, the MSCI World Women’s Leadership Index declined 25.63%, and the MSCI USA Women’s Leadership Index fell 24.96%. The Solactive Equileap Global Gender Equality 100 Leadership Index returned -23.90%. The Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, which announced a 2020 expansion from 230 to 325 companies in 42 countries, posted a decline of over 30%.

How did gender lens funds fare in the first quarter?

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Gender Lens Investing: Where to from Here?

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Stronger women-in-leadership (WIL) metrics have well-documented benefits, yet companies have failed to truly accelerate their gender diversity efforts.

Women make up 44.7% of S&P 500 employees and 36.9% of first- and mid-level managers, but as 2019 came to a close, they accounted for only 5.8% of S&P CEOs and only 21.2% of board seats, less than in 2017.

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2019 Overview – Gender Lens Funds: What Was the Impact in 2019?

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How did the primary publicly traded gender lens equity funds perform last year?

The recent track records of the funds accessible to individual investors are now available. These portfolios include mutual funds, ETFs, SICAVs, one ETN, and one unit trust. Divided into six global equity funds and 12 regional funds, they are listed by AUM, which totaled $1.47 billion for the group as of 31 December 2019. (Summary data for these fund is also available.)

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Q3 2019 Overview – Gender Lens Investing: A Sector Analysis

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Gender lens investing in both fixed income and equities developed in response to evidence that companies with higher women-in-leadership (WIL) metrics outperformed on a range of financial and share price criteria.

This correlation between WIL metrics and superior performance was first demonstrated in 2007 research from Catalyst and studies by Credit Suisse, and Merrill Lynch, among others, made similar observations.

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Q2 2019 Overview – Where are gender lens equity funds investing?

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Gender lens investing, which includes equity and fixed income portfolios, first developed from evidence of superior measurable performance by companies with higher women-in-leadership (WIL) metrics. Beginning with 2007 research by Catalyst1, studies have demonstrated that companies with stronger levels of WIL outperform on a range of financial and share price measures. (For a history of WIL research and an overview of gender lens equity funds, see here.)

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Q1 2019 Overview – How are gender lens funds performing?

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The outperformance of companies with higher women-in-leadership (WIL) metrics has led to the development of so-called gender lens investing. Within this emerging sector, total publicly available equity and fixed income offerings have grown to over $2.4 billion in assets under management (AUM). This paper summarizes the characteristics and recent performance of the publicly-traded equity funds within the sector.

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