One of Britain’s biggest investment firms is taking on gender inequality by launching the first UK fund to prioritise investing in companies where women are well represented at all levels.

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), which manages £983bn of assets, said the new fund – into which the firm has ploughed £50m of its own money – “aims to empower investors to make a difference to the companies in which they invest and wider society”.



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The scale of the gender pay gap across the British economy has been exposed this year by a government requirement that all companies and public bodies with more than 250 employees must publish their wage disparities. The Guardian’s analysis of the 10,014 employers who submitted data by last month’s deadline revealed that almost eight out of 10 paid men more than women. The data showed women were being paid a median hourly rate that, on average, was 9.7% less than their male colleagues received.



The L&G fund’s full name is the L&G Future World Gender in Leadership UK Index Fund, although the company has dubbed it “the Girl Fund” for short.

It will score and rank blue-chip companies according to four gender diversity measures. It will look at the percentage of women on: the board of directors; at executive level; in management; and across the workforce. Companies are expected to reach a minimum of 30% representation of women in these four measures. L&G said it was considering adding another measure to incorporate data relating to the gender pay gap survey.

The fund tracks an LGIM-designed index of around 350 of the UK’s largest companies and will allocate more to firms that have achieved higher levels of gender diversity, with the aim of driving up standards in this area. L&G said it would engage with low-scoring companies to discuss how they could improve their gender diversity.



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Helena Morrissey, the head of personal investing at LGIM and one of the highest-profile women working in the City, said gender inequality “is one of the key issues of our time – and one that generates so much frustration”.



She added: “Rather than feeling trapped or despondent, let’s do something about it. I’m excited about the launch of the Girl Fund, which empowers us all to use our money to help companies to progress. When we invest in the success of women, we are investing in the success of business.”



The fund is open to small investors with as little as £30 a month to invest. While it might appeal to some of the same people attracted to ethical investment, a number of the companies on the list could raise hackles among responsible investors. As of this week, the index’s top 10 holdings included oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and BP, the largest tobacco company in the world, British American Tobacco, global bank HSBC and the drinks company Diageo.









