According to Jason Baron, women's funds indirectly improve the development of companies. Is this theory also promising for investors?

Jason Baron, founder of the fund company US Trust, considers high quotas of women in management positions to be a good indicator for investments in women's funds. This is the basis for his special Women & Girls investment strategy. He attributes his findings to studies showing that companies with a comparatively high proportion of women in corporate management perform better than companies with a classic male dominance.

He refers in particular to the Women Matter study by McKinsey & Co., which has been dedicated to this topic since 2007. For Jason Baron, the study results lead to the consequence that US Trust offers special women's funds with Women & Girls Equality.

How do women's funds relate to women?

Women's funds group together stocks that relate to women in some way. The US Trust's Women & Girls Equality fund, developed by Jason Baron, includes only stocks of companies with a high percentage of women on their boards. Numerous women's funds follow this example with different access criteria.

Other fund companies include in their women's funds only shares in companies that do not work with countries where women are discriminated against. A third form includes shares in companies that manufacture and offer special products for women, for example fashion or cosmetics companies. Although equity funds generally invest with an eye to returns, the latter fund policy differs significantly from the others.

In these funds, return is the sole investment objective. Women's funds in the sense of Jason Baron belong to the growing field of social investment. This includes stocks and stock funds of companies that fulfill a sustainable social purpose. They are committed, for example, in the field of environmental protection, the observance of human rights or animal welfare. In the context of social investment, women's funds serve not only to generate returns  just like traders in payment methods but also to improve the proportion of women in management and to support equal rights for women.

The criteria of the Women & Girls Equality Fund

One-third of the management and supervisory board positions in a company should be held by women for a share to be included in the Women & Girls Equality Fund. In addition, companies must meet other criteria. They must not work with countries where women are not considered full citizens. A sexist and negative portrayal of women in advertising will also lead to a company's exclusion from the fund.

Jason Baron emphasizes an equitable salary structure for men and women and the advancement of women in the company. US Trust also includes shares in companies that support special women's projects in developing countries in the fund. Jason Baron assumes that companies with a high proportion of women at the top of their performance have a better potential for development, as women have a balancing effect, maintain close customer contacts and act with more understanding toward employees.

Longer-term observations of the stock performance of companies with a high proportion of women lead to the conclusion that the stock prices of companies with a high proportion of women in management have risen continuously. In 2013 and 2014, U.S. women-owned funds outperformed investor expectations and their peers. In 2015, share price gains were more subdued, but still present.