HESTA is celebrating its achievements in promoting gender parity across the ASX 300.
In a statement on Thursday, the $92 billion super fund said it voted against the election or re-election of chairs and directors at over 40 ASX 300 companies lagging on gender diversity.
“It’s hard to believe there are still companies with no women in their executive leadership teams or their boardrooms,” said HESTA CEO Debby Blakey.
Blakey said that a lack of gender balance in corporate Australia is a material financial risk that could impact investment performance for members over the long term.
“Gender balance is not only fairer but also smart business,” Blakey said.
“Research has shown that greater diversity in leadership improves business decision-making, corporate governance, and financial performance, and this can improve the retirement outcomes of our more than one million members.”
The fund said that ahead of the 2024 AGM season, it wrote to the CEOs and chairs of ASX 300 companies to encourage gender balance at board and executive level and also right across the workplace.
“The approach to improving gender diversity can’t just be top-down, it also needs to be bottom-up,” Blakey said.
“Improving gender diversity across our biggest listed companies can help support long-term value creation, while providing more opportunities and better experiences for women in the workplace. We believe this can help improve the value of our members’ investments over the long-term and contribute to a better financial future for them.”
Late last year, HESTA and a number of its peers were called out by Market Forces for failing to use their influence to hold gas giants Woodside Energy and Santos accountable on climate action.
The group revealed that while eight funds, including HESTA, voted against the re-election of at least one Woodside director in 2023, they did not vote against the chair’s re-election in 2024.
Responding to Super Review’s request for comment at the time, HESTA said both Woodside and Santos are on its watchlist as part of the fund’s “engagement escalation framework”.
“Our approach to active ownership is to select an appropriate combination of levers at any given time in response to each company and issue,” a spokesperson for the fund said.
“We consider our members’ best financial interests are served through a timely, equitable and orderly transition to net zero emissions by 2050 in order to minimise the systemic risks of climate change. This requires transition of our economy towards alignment with the Paris Agreement.
“Ongoing engagement is vital to how we encourage companies to be more ambitious in their transition plans, which helps manage the systemic risk of climate change.”
