April 2019

Welcome to the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Wrap, where our team shares the latest ESG issues and their implications for investors.

Gender diversity features as a theme in this edition, which is timely given the recent release of The Global Gender Gap Report 2018.

The report’s findings show there is still a 32.0% average gender gap that remains to be closed, but the directionally-positive average trend registered this year is supported by improvements in 89 of the 144 countries covered both this year and last year.

To date, no country has achieved parity, and only the top seven countries in the rankings have closed at least 80% of the gap. New Zealand rises two places, to seventh, due to improvements on the Political Empowerment subindex, on which the country enters the top 10 with a increased share of women in parliament. It also fully closes its Educational Attainment gender gap for the first time since 2015. Overall, the New Zealand has closed more than 80% of its gender gap for the first time since the Index began.

Improving gender equality has countless positive impacts on individuals and also on the society and economy at large. This process is ongoing and without end but it is great to see New Zealand’s record in this area improving.