Gender Equality Funds is powered by the Equileap Gender Equality Scorecard, inspired by the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles. The Equileap Gender Equality Scorecard scores companies based on 19 criteria, including gender balance across the workforce, the gender pay gap, paid parental leave, and anti-sexual harassment policies.
- 1 - Board of Directors - Percentage of male and female Board of Directors as a proportion of the total number.
- 2 - Executives - Percentage of male and female Executives as a percentage of the total number.
- 3 - Senior Management - Percentage of male and female senior managers as a percentage of total.
- 4 - Workforce - Percentage of male and female employees as a percentage of total.
- 5 - Promotion and Career Development Opportunities - Ratio of each gender in Senior Management compared to ratio of each gender in the Workforce.
- 6 - Living Wage - Commitment to ensure payment of a living wage to all employees, even in those countries that do not legally require a minimum wage or where minimum wage is not a living wage.
- 7 - Gender Pay Gap - Commitment to provide comparable wages for comparable work and to close the gender pay gap.
- 8 - Parental Leave - Paid leave programs (at least 2/3 paid) for child care to both primary or secondary carers globally or at least in the country of incorporation.
- 9 - Flexible Work Options - Option for employees to control and/or vary the start and end times of the work day and/or vary the location from which employees work.
- 10 - Training and Career Development - Commitment to ensure equal access to training and career development to both men and women.
- 11 - Recruitment Strategy - Commitment to ensure non-discrimination against any type of demographic group and equal opportunities to ensure gender parity.
- 12 - Freedom from Violence, Abuse and Sexual Harassment - Prohibits all forms of violence in the work place, including verbal, physical and sexual harassment.
- 13 - Safety at Work - Commitment to the safety of employees in the workplace, in travel to and from the workplace, and on company related business, and ensure the safety of vendors in the workplace.
- 14 - Human Rights - Commitment to ensure the protection of the rights of all people it works with including employees’ rights to participate in legal, civic and political affairs.
- 15 - Social Supply Chain - Commitment to reduce social risks in its supply chain such as forbid business related activities that condone, support, or otherwise participate in trafficking, including for labor or sexual exploitation.
- 16 - Supplier Diversity - Commitment to ensure diversity in the supply chain, including support for women owned businesses in the supply chain.
- 17 - Employee Protection - Systems and policies for the reporting of internal ethical compliance complaints without retaliation or retribution, including but not limited to access to confidential third-party ethics hotlines or systems for confidential written complaints.
- 18 - Commitment to Women’s Empowerment - Recognition and commitment to ensuring women’s empowerment in the workplace.
- 19 - Audit - Undertaken and awarded an independent gender audit certificate by an Equileap recognized body.
Index | Rated as | Gender equality grade |
---|---|---|
S&P 500 | IVV | B |
Russell 1000 | IWB | B |
Russell 2000 | IWM | F |
Russell 3000 | IWV | B |
S&P 100 | OEF | A |
Russell Top 200 | IWL | A |
MSCI ACWI | ACWI | C |
MSCI EAFE | EFA | B |
MSCI Emerging Markets | EEM | N/A |
MSCI ACWI ex U.S. | ACWX | B |
Gender lens investing isn't just a moral question. Research shows gender diverse companies tend to have better returns and lower risk.
Equal pay and, more broadly, equal opportunities at work are powerful levers to grow global prosperity: they have the potential to take millions of women and their families out of poverty and move us closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, as defined by the United Nations.
– Equileap, Gender Equality Global Report and Ranking (2017)
Discover which funds are investing in the companies that lead the field in terms of gender equality. A growing body of evidence correlates various gender-lens investing criteria with higher financial performance and lower investment risk.
Use Gender Equality Funds to search and compare mutual funds based on their gender-lens score and financial performance. You can use our database to find sustainable investment options that meet your specific needs.
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