Gender Diversity: Gender and State Street

gender diversity: State Street says that looking at proxy votes alone can produce an incomplete measure of an investment manager's dedication to gender equality, according to Market Watch. When State Street rolled out its Gender Diversity Index exchange-traded fund SHE, 0.24%SHE, 0.24% in 2016 SHE, 0.24%the company said it would seek to help address gender inequality in corporate America by offering investors an opportunity to create change with capital and seek a return on gender diversity. But according to a study released Monday by investment research firm Morningstar, State Street's gender diversity fund has voted for only 20% of shareholder resolutions put before it addressing gender and diversity, a record that seems at odds with the investment objective stated in the fund's prospectus, according to Madison Sargis, associate director of quantitative research at Morningstar. Sargis studied the three U.S. funds that have a multiyear record on shareholder proxy votes and which are specifically focused on gender diversity. Examples of such resolutions include requests for boards of directors to publish reports on efforts to bring more diversity to corporate boards, requests for companies to monitor gender pay equity and disclose any gender pay gap, and appeals for boards to include workplace diversity metrics in determining CEO pay. The study found that Glenmede's Women's Leadership Fund GWILX, 0.15% and Pax's Ellevate Fund PXWEX, 0.60% voted for every gender equity resolution put before them, while State Street voted for just two of the ten resolutions put before it, while abstaining from two more. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.