Gender lens or gender equity investing is investing for financial return, while promoting gender diversity.
For New York Life Investments, putting money toward fixing the gender gap is part of its mission. The firm'sdonates a percentage of its management fee to Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that aims to boost the number of women in computer science. The fund is just over a year old, so while it grows assets, it is also augmenting its donations to the organization with additional contributions, said Wendy Wong, head of sustainable investment partnerships at New York Life Investments.
"They are trying to close the gender gap in technology. The pipeline isn't growing as much as it should," Wong said. "By not having a pipeline of women going into technology, that has really broad implications across everything."Those interested in investing in companies that promote and empower women should be cognizant of what holdings are in the fund and how companies are screened. Also, be sure to understand what fees are charged.
"A good story, or even a good moral story in some cases, shouldn't blind you to the core fundamentals of investing," Morningstar's Lamont said. Be aware of any biases that may exist with the funds. For instance, when tech stocks have done well, gender funds have tended to lag, he said. That's because the global funds, generally, are underweight tech since those companies don't tend to do well with diversity, Lamont said.
"Depending on how the fund that you're looking at is built, it may have really quite explicit biases in it or risk factors that you should really understand before you invest," he said."I wouldn't take all of the claims that are made about the performance benefits of having an extra female director on the board as gospel," Lamont said. "If you believe in that, that's great. But be prepared for that not quite materializing in the way you might expect.
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