Sustainable Investing

Gender equality

Gender equality is the concept of providing the same opportunities for men and women in the workplace, and has become a major sustainability theme.

It has three main dimensions:

  • The first is trying to improve the number of women on corporate boards, which remains disproportionately low in developed economies and can be virtually non-existent in emerging markets.

  • Secondly, it aims to ensure that men and women who do the same job receive the same pay. This is now a legal requirement in many countries, but gender pay gaps remain prevalent in many areas, often in high-profile jobs.

  • Thirdly, gender equality seeks to improve female (or male) participation in sectors where one gender is dominant. For example, most airline pilots are male, whereas the majority of cabin crew are female, leading many airlines to try to redress the balance through targeted recruitment programs. Other sectoral biases are more cultural, such as the high proportion of men in mining and women in textiles.



Female representation at different levels by sector in 2018.

Female representation at different levels by sector in 2018.

Source: Robeco

Creating returns that benefit the world we live in

Addressing gender equality is a major engagement theme for Robeco, backed by the Robeco Global Gender Equality Impact Equity strategy, one of the few in the world to target it. The scale of the task is formidable, but there are an increasing number of international initiatives to progress gender equality along with women’s rights. To try to increase female board participation, Robeco belongs to the 30% Club, which aims to see women accounting for 30% of the members of all company boards across different markets. Appointing more women to non-board managerial positions is another objective, particularly after Robeco research showed that companies with higher proportions of female managers were more profitable.

It is a long haul – closing the gender pay gap will take 22 years at current rates, the research shows, although there have been some successes, particularly in high-profile cases at large organizations. Changing the gender balance in sectors has tended to be more company specific and sometimes involved deliberately changing recruitment policies to make it more attractive for either gender to join the firm, including the offer of better childcare provision or more flexible working policies.

See also:

Impact investing


Let's keep the conversation going

Keep track of fast-moving events in sustainable and quantitative investing, trends and credits with our newsletters.

Stay updated
Robeco

Robeco aims to enable its clients to achieve their financial and sustainability goals by providing superior investment returns and solutions.

Important information This disclaimer applies to any documents and the verbal or written comments of any person in presentations or webinars on this website and taken together is referred to herein as the “Information”. The services to which the Information relate are NOT FOR RETAIL CLIENTS - The information contained in the Website is solely intended for professional investors, defined as investors which (1) qualify as professional clients within the meaning of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), (2) have requested to be treated as professional clients within the meaning of the MiFID or (3) are authorized to receive such information under any other applicable laws and must not be relied or acted upon by any other persons. This Information does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any financial product, and may not be relied upon in connection with the purchase or sale of any financial product. You are cautioned against using this Information as the basis for making a decision to purchase any financial product. To the extent that you rely on the Information in connection with any investment decision, you do so at your own risk. The Information does not purport to be complete on any topic addressed. The Information may contain data or analysis prepared by third parties and no representation or warranty about the accuracy of such data or analysis is provided.

In all cases where historical performance is presented, please note that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and should not be relied upon as the basis for making an investment decision. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested. Neither Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. nor any of its affiliates guarantees the performance or the future returns of any investments. If the currency in which the past performance is displayed differs from the currency of the country in which you reside, then you should be aware that due to exchange rate fluctuations the performance shown may increase or decrease if converted into your local currency. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. (“Robeco”) expressly prohibits any redistribution of the Information without the prior written consent of Robeco. The Information is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use is contrary to law, rule or regulation. Certain information contained in the Information includes calculations or figures that have been prepared internally and have not been audited or verified by a third party. Use of different methods for preparing, calculating or presenting information may lead to different results. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. is authorised as a manager of UCITS and AIFs by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and subject to limited regulation in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. Details about the extent of our regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority are available from us on request.