Kathleen McQuiggan, senior vice president for global women’s strategies at Pax World Management, is frequently asked why anyone would want to invest in companies just because women lead them. It’s a germane question considering her company runs a mutual fund focused on companies led by women.
She likes to turn that question on its head and ask why someone wouldn’t want gender diversity in the companies where they invest.
The question comes up frequently these days as more portfolio managers begin to offer portfolios that have only companies with female CEOs or companies that have women in other executive positions and on the boards of directors.
The latest to make that offering is Eqis Capital Management, which announced in mid-October that it has a portfolio of companies led by female chief executives. The San Rafael, Calif., firm is offering the Women CEO Focus portfolio, a separately managed account managed by chief financial strategist Kenneth A. Kim and chief investment officer William R. Nelson.
Eqis came under almost immediate criticism from some quarters of the financial industry for creating a portfolio that detractors say is too narrowly focused, doesn’t have enough companies in it and isn’t based on sound principles.
Kim says he and others at Eqis were surprised by the criticism because many studies have shown that having women as leaders of a business and having diversity of all kinds at different levels helps make companies more profitable.
The Women CEO Focus portfolio includes 15 companies selected from the 29 businesses headed by women that are part of the Fortune 1000, Kim says. The companies were selected from across all sectors, and the number could be expanded as companies are found that meet Eqis’s standards.
“The main thing is that the portfolio is supported by overwhelming scientific research that women-led companies do better on average than ones with male CEOs,” Kim says. “Research has shown that men are overconfident [and] they think they are better than they are. During our review of the academic, psychological and economic research, we found that women CEOs take fewer risks and operate more conservatively.”
Eqis is not alone in coming to this conclusion. Ellevate Network, which promotes women as business leaders, has teamed up with asset manager Pax World Management to create a fund focused on companies that advance women.
The Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund (PXWEX) has companies that promote gender diversity on their boards of directors and in executive management and that embrace policies and programs to elevate women in the workplace.