The Index tracker is designed to give investors the ability to actively engage in gender equality and invest in companies that comply with specific ESG criteria. The Equileap Europe Gender Equality Index serves as a sub-index of the Equileap Gender Equality Index Family.
The index series’ base universe is comprised of all publicly available stocks with their primary listing in a developed markets economy, amounting to over 3,000 global stocks. From the base universe, the top 75 stocks are selected based on their ranking according to Equileap’s proprietary Gender Equality ScorecardTM, which consists of 19 criteria including, among others, gender balance at all levels within the company, gender pay gap and equal pay for equal work, parental leave, work-life balance and policies promoting gender equality.
Furthermore, an ESG screening excludes companies which operate in controversial businesses and derive the majority of their revenues from the weapons, gambling, or tobacco Industry.
Additionally, companies which are on the Norwegian Ethics Council List, are excluded from the index as well. The Indices are equal weighted, rebalanced annually, and reviewed quarterly.
Timo Pfeiffer, Head of Research at Solactive, comments: “We are very proud to join Equileap in this journey, and be able to advocate gender equality. This topic is not only a growing market opportunity, but certainly also a matter that concerns everyone’s social responsibility.”
The AVA Gender Equality Tracker will be listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange on March 8th.
