Top holdings include Pfizer 6.2%, PepsiCo 4.9%, Amgen 3.7%, 3M Company 3.5% and Mastercard Incorporated 3.4%.
Research and historical data have suggested that gender diversity may translate to outperformance. According to a 2015 MSCI study that explored global trends in gender diversity on corporate boards between December 2009 and August 2015, companies with at least three female board members outperformed others in overall return on equity by more than 36 percent.
Academic research also showed that men and women think, lead and solve problems differently. Research indicated that deploying these different approaches in concert can lead to better decisions, greater innovation and potentially stronger business results.
The ETF space, as well, has also experienced an increase number of women in leadership positions, which may bode well for the industry as a whole. On January 23, Women in ETFs, the first women’s group for the ETF industry, celebrated its third-year anniversary at the Inside ETFs conference. WE is a non-profit that brings over 2,500 members in chapters in major financial centers across the U.S., Canada, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
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