In addition to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5) which relates to achieving gender equality and empowerment of women everywhere, there are specific initiatives that aim to increase the representation of women in companies.
The 30% club and 40:40 Vision are two initiatives that some of our fund managers have signed up to.
40:40 vision aims to see women fill 40% of executive roles in the top 200 listed Australian companies by 2030 – again based on a clear and convincing causal link that increased female representation in leadership roles sees improved performance, productivity and profitability. There is also an aim to have 40:40:20 balance [40% men 40% women and 20% of any gender] across the workforce with an aim to reduce the gender pay gap. {https://www.wgea.gov.au/newsroom/4040-vision-a-new-initiative-to-bolster-gender-equality-in-the-asx200}
The 30% club is a global organisation that aims to have at least 30% representation of all women on all boards and C-suites (Chief Investment Officer, Chief Executive etc) globally. {https://30percentclub.org/}
Various countries have introduced legislation to ensure better female representation on boards [Malaysia 30% female in code on corporate governance in 2017. India requires an independent female director at the top 1000 companies and Korea has implemented new gender diversity regulations in late 2022.
By being signatories to one of these types of organisations, our fund managers use their active engagement to discuss goal for gender diversity with the board and management of companies that they invest in. [Refer to the Magellan/Visa case study in the March newsletter].
