Checking funds for gender equity near impossible

Dr Ayesha Scott, senior finance lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, says the aim of gender lens investing is to not only make a financial return but also to improve the lives of women. It goes beyond counting female representation on boards to include the number of female managers, leaders, and employees; the existence of policies and/or products a company provides to address the gender pay gap and other inequities their female employees face; and it encourages investing in women-owned enterprises.

Investing with a gender lens means identifying those companies empowering female employees, embracing diversity, and making themselves attractive to a large customer base - and investing in them. The problem is, a lack of investment portfolios or funds that invest in companies that do right by women.

Earlier this year Pathfinder added an ‘orange bond’, aimed at raising women’s capital rights in developing countries, to its KiwiSaver fixed interest allocation but the gender focus makes it an outlier in the market. Scott says one explanation for the lack of products is that identifying gender-friendly companies isn’t easy and this is where the ESG rating agencies have a role to play.

“Everyday investors do, in theory, have access to these markets and products but it is far from mainstream. The overarching point is that if we simply collected data on gender issues from companies who are already reporting on a whole range of ESG issues, that data would be available for every day investors to sift through if they are so inclined. Not everyone is going to want to invest with a gender lens but without the data available it becomes difficult for an investor to find.”