eToro Launches FemaleLeadership Portfolio, Offering Investors Benefits of Boardroom Diversity

​eToro, the social investing network, launched today its new FemaleLeadership Smart Portfolio, offering investors long-term exposure to companies already exhibiting strong gender-equality credentials and awareness.

Research has shown that increasing the proportion of women in leadership positions has a positive impact on a firm's profitability and also tends to enhance factors such as mentorship, collaboration, employee well-being, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives.

eToro's Deputy CEO and Global Chief Operating Officer (COO), Dr. Hedva Ber, says: "Female leadership and boardroom diversity have proven advantages, not just for company culture but also for business growth and development. The impact of these factors over the long term is not just a stronger, more resilient business with better processes and fresher thinking, but in turn better results for investors."

Despite this, women only fill around 30% of director positions in the S&P 500, and the proportion is drastically lower when it comes to CEOs. As of 2021, only 6% of S&P 500 CEOs were women. Nevertheless, the number of women in executive positions and on boards of directors is rising, and eToro's new FemaleLeadership portfolio has been constructed to capitalize on the advantages this brings to their respective firms and sectors.

The portfolio is composed of 35 US-listed companies from the existing eToro stocks universe, ranked according to a range of metrics including gender diversity, analyst consensus ratings, stock liquidity, and market capitalization. In order to qualify, at least 40% of both the company's executives and Board of Directors must be women.

The initial allocation of eToro's new FemaleLeadership portfolio is weighted more heavily towards the consumer and communications sectors, with a particular focus on retail and internet companies, as per the ranking model mentioned above. The composition includes familiar brands whose leadership teams have made important progress on the road to gender equality, including Disney, GAP, Uber, Paramount Global and Hewlett-Packard. The full allocation can be found here.

The launch of this portfolio is part of eToro's wider initiative to support women in business, finance and investing. eToro recently launched InvestWithHer, an online community designed to encourage more women to consider investing.