A Regulatory and Social Paradigm Change
Under the premise that «talent does not know gender, but opportunities do», investing with a gender perspective has become an intelligent financial strategy. Currently, the panorama is marked by the Parity Law in Spain and the European Directive 2022/2381 «Women on Boards». These regulations require that, by June 30, 2026, listed companies and public interest entities achieve at least a 40% female presence on their boards of directors (or 33% of the total executive and non-executive positions). This legal push seeks not only to meet quotas, but also to promote transparency, forcing companies to publish their gender data annually and explain concrete measures in case of non-compliance.
The Strategy: Active, Passive and Impact Management
The proposed strategy is divided into three fundamental pillars to maximize diversification and impact:
- Passive Management and Index Selection: It focuses on replicating indices that filter companies by their conciliation policies, salary gap and female presence in key positions. A reference is the IBEX Gender Equality Indexwhich includes companies with between 25% and 75% of women on their Board and between 15% and 85% in senior management.
- Active Management in Real Leadership: It consists of direct investment in companies that have broken the «glass ceiling.» The «Future Templates» strategy is key here, overweighting companies with a very feminized base that are already promoting that talent to senior management.
- Impact and Entrepreneurship Strategy: Direct capital towards projects led by women through microcredits, Business Angels or female venture capital funds (such as the Women Investors network), which support startups that traditional banking usually ignores.
Investment Options and Market References
To implement this strategy, the investor has various financial tools, both national and international, so Investing with a gender perspective does not mean giving up good diversification:
In the Spanish sphere, the IBEX Gender Equality Index stands out with leaders such as Santander, Inditex, Caixabank, Cellnex and Mapfre. Furthermore, companies such as AENA, Adolfo Domínguez, Colonial and Iberdrola They already show levels of parity in directives or councils of between 50% and 66.6%.
Globally, there are solid options such as Lyxor MSCI Gender Equality ETFhe SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE) and the iShares MSCI World Gender Equalitywhich filter out companies from developed markets with high diversity performance.
For specialized European management, funds such as Mirova Women Leader Equity Fund They offer an active management alternative focused on real female role models in positions where resources are controlled.
|
Financial Instrument |
Management Type |
Current Expenses (TER) |
Status / Observations |
|
Amundi Global Gender Equality UCITS ETF |
Passive |
0,20% |
European reference; physical replica of the Solactive Equileap index. |
|
SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity (SHE) |
Passive |
0,20% |
Focus on diversity leaders in the US. |
|
UBS Global Gender Equality (ELLE) |
Passive |
0,20% |
Very cost efficient; wide sector diversification. |
|
iShares Refinitiv Inclusion & Diversity |
Passive |
0,25% |
Includes inclusion metrics beyond gender. |
|
Nordea 1 – Global Diversity Engagement |
Activa |
1,80% |
Impact management with a focus on broad diversity. |
|
Mirova Women Leaders & Diversity |
Activa |
1,84% |
Pure focus on female empowerment; higher cost for active management. |
|
RobecoSAM Global Gender Equality |
Activa |
— |
Use: Merged in June 2025 with the fund Robeco Global SDG Equalities. |
Finally, it is vital to remember that exercising financial intelligence involves resorting to professional advice or continuous training. Statistics indicate that men are more willing to pay for financial training than women. Training is essential. At the end of the day, system and discipline defeat talent, and maintaining control is the first step to a successful strategy.
Investment Strategies launches on March 9 the Trend Technical Analysis + Analysis Room course where investors will learn and practice the trend investment style live with the teacher, based on looking for strong companies that offer entry opportunities to get on the trend: More information here.