The long road to gender equality

By Marie Lassegnore, CFA, Head of Sustainable Investments, La Française AM.

A recent study (1) conducted on more than 3,700 listed companies across the globe, representing 102 million employees, provides a clear picture of where we stand and moreover where we stagnate with regards to gender equality in the workplace. “A minority of companies globally, just 6%, have a female CEO, 15% have a female CFO and 8% have a female chair of the board. Looking at representation from the top down, women represent 28% of board members, 20% of executives, 26% of senior management and 38% of the total workforce.”

Why does it matter? Economic studies have shown that female education and representation in the workforce contribute to social and economic well-being while their underrepresentation in the labor market and in managerial positions has an impact on overall labor productivity. This partly explains why the United Nations established gender equality as one of its sustainable development goals (SDG number 5 of the 17 objectives for the environment and society, to be achieved by 2030).

Closing the gap requires coordination at multiple levels, starting with access to equal education. Women must be empowered, given influence. Gender equality must be sought after in recruitment, compensation and career progression. And the list goes on.  As investors, one of our main tools is our influential capacity; through individual or collaborative engagement with companies we can make sure to raise the topics that are relevant to a company’s long-term sustainability profile.

One of the ways we choose to address this gap is through female representation at the board level. This is an indicator we systematically track referencing our investee companies, whether through equity or corporate bond investments. We believe that female representation at the board level will lead to not only greater corporate performance from an economic and sustainable standpoint but will also help enable change throughout the other layers of the employee base (executives, management, and total workforce). Research has also shown that change in practices can be detected once female representation on a board reaches 3 seats. That is why we have also joined the “30% Club France Investor Group” which aims to boost gender diversity at board and senior management levels among SBF120 companies by at least 30% by 2025.

Published by La Française AM Finance Services, head office located at 128 boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris, France, a company regulated by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel as an investment services provider, no. 18673 X, a subsidiary of La Française. La Française Asset Management was approved by the AMF under no. GP97076 on 1 July 1997. The portfolio management company La Française Real Estate Managers received AMF accreditation No. GP-07000038 on 26 June 2007 and AIFM accreditation under Directive 2011/61/EU, dated 24/6/2014  (www.amf-france.org).