Women's Equality Day: Celebrating the Right of Women to Vote

LINK TO MY ARTICLE: https://bit.ly/3T5Yluh

Monday is Women’s Equality Day, celebrating the anniversary of the 19th amendment to the constitution, passed in 1920, which gave women the right to vote. It forbids states and the federal government from suppressing the right to vote based on sex. 

It was a huge victory for women across the United States, as the right to vote is vital to our democracy. It also meant that any candidate running for office had to include issues important to women in their campaign message. 

This obviously influenced the political, social and economic direction of the United States, and paved the way for women to become elected officials. The 19th amendment made it easier for women to run for elected office, including the House of Representatives, senate, vice president, and perhaps even president one day. 

In 1971, New York Congresswoman Bella Abzurg introduced a resolution that made April 26 Women’s Equality Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon officially recognized this special day with Proclamation 4147, which Congress approved in 1973. Every president since has announced August 26 as Women’s Equality Day. 

Not a level-playing field (yet)

Although women still face obstacles based on gender-based discrimination, the playing field is improving slowly. While the so-called “glass ceiling” still exists (i.e., a barrier to advancement in a profession, especially involving women and minorities), a few cracks have appeared.

One place where women are still not equal is in the C-suite (i.e., top management positions) and in the board room. In 2024, there were 52 women in charge of Fortune 500 companies, crossing 10% for the first time. The number continues to increase, but it will be a long time before women outnumber men as Fortune 500 CEOs. 

According to research, companies with a larger percentage of women managers tend to outperform those with male leaders. The research measured variables such as profit, corporate governance, and creativity. For this reason, many investors seek out companies predominantly led by women, although the list is still small. 

In addition to female-led companies, an investing theme involves investing in ETFs and mutual funds that are led by women. A British research study published in the “Journal of Applied Finance & Banking“ (Vol. 13, No. 5, 2023) by Jacob H. Schmidt and Bianca Hutton Chimes concluded: “We find that funds managed by women or mixed teams produce similar and sometimes better risk-adjusted returns than male-only managed funds but they are few in number, and find it difficult to raise significant amounts of assets.” 

The benefits of having a women CEO

According to research, there are a number of benefits when women are appointed to senior management positions. First, adding women to the C-suite causes organizations to think differently, adding new ideas to the corporation while also encouraging more risk taking. This “changes how these firms made key strategic decisions.” 

The research also shows that when female executives were included in decision-making, the firm gradually shifts from a merger and acquisition (i.e., M&A) mindset to a focus on research and development (i.e., R&D). The shift to increased R&D spending helped senior-level executives be more open “to change and aversion to risk” than when investing in M&A. 

Nevertheless, these are not “hard-and-fast” rules. There are many examples of successful women executives who prioritized M&A investments over R&D. The key point is that the research suggests that having a more diverse management team helps make the entire team more open to change and less risk-averse. Ideally, that makes a company stronger and more flexible. 

Not surprisingly, women CEOs differed in their management style from men, but research studies show that they “were just as effective in terms of the financial performance of their companies.”

Specifically, many women had a more open and positive communication style than their male counterparts, especially during the pandemic, when this research was conducted. In particular, “women CEOs used proportionately more expressions of joy and men used proportionately more anger.” The researchers concluded that during this time period, female CEOs had much more positive communications with their employees compared to men. 

Conclusion

If female power and diversity are important issues to you, in Part 2 we will discuss specific ETFs, mutual funds, and stocks that reflect your values. When a company is diverse, especially in upper management, it is likely to be stronger as it includes a variety of employee experiences, opinions, and viewpoints. 

The goal for many companies is to promote gender equality and equal compensation. As a result, female leadership helps a company to enhance creativity and problem-solving.