Gunther Capelle-Blancard (Université Paris 1)

will give a presentation on

Does it pay to be gender-friendly? Evidence from Portfolio Strategies

Abstract : In this study, we examine whether gender-based investment strategies have an impact on financial performance. We consider all existing gender-equality funds and stock indices, matched with their conventional benchmarks, over the 2016-2022 period. First, we assess their risk-adjusted returns, accounting for possible heterogeneity across gender-based strategies. Second, we examine the impact of two exogenous shocks: the Covid-19 crisis and the #MeToo movement. Overall, we find that gender-equality strategies do not provide significantly different risk-adjusted returns, compared to their conventional benchmarks. In addition, we find that gender-equality funds have not been more resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that there is no significant impact of the #MeToo movement. These results do not support the standard “business case” argument for gender-equality as an investment providing better performance or lower risk. However, they do not call into question the promotion of gender diversity at the investment, company or workplace levels, which is desirable in itself.