While doing research, Eve Ellis of financial firm Morgan Stanley found a strong correlation between women in the board room and higher company returns. Yet currently, only 16.9 percent of board members are women in the US. Her goal is to help get that number to 50 percent.
To do this, she set up a new portfolio called Parity, which only invests in companies that meet Morgan Stanley’s financial requirements and have at least three women on their boards. Her belief is that Parity leverages the benefits of having women with sound business acumen in authority and provides companies with the opportunity to raise the bottom line — an essential ingredient to level the playing field.
Watch this interview with Ellis, and see what you think!
“To pass over women is just not fair, and just not good business either!”
Australia has similar figures of women on boards – the Australian Institute of Company Directors reports that women made up only 15.4% of ASX200 boards as of the end of 2012. Programs like this can make a real difference in Australia as well as the US.
