Pension funds step up campaign to reduce gender pay gap

Big US pension funds and impact investors will this month step up pressure on companies to reduce the gender pay gap by trying to compel them to disclose the difference in how they treat men and women. The states of Connecticut, Minnesota and Oregon are among the investors that are pressing companies to disclose more information about how women are recruited, promoted and paid.

The investors want new disclosures about the promotion gap between men and women as well as information about how women are compensated as they climb the corporate ladder. “Gender equality, if we are not paying attention to that as a risk, we are not living up to our fiduciary responsibilities,” said Tobias Read, treasurer of Oregon. He oversees about $106bn of assets under management and is one of the investors who have aligned with non-profit As You Sow, which in July sent a letter to 31 companies calling on them to disclose information about how women are recruited and promoted. Read Full Article - Financial Times, August 19, 2019