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A pioneer for female leaders
Below is an article originally written by Alyssa Bentz, Wells Fargo Historian, and published on March 2, 2018. Go to the Wells Fargo Page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.
From the 1870s to the 1910s, Wells Fargo hired more than 350 women to manage its express offices in towns across the U.S., from California to New York. As the company began opening its bank branches in the early 20th century, though, only men were appointed managers. That all changed in 1967, when Shirley Nelson made history by becoming the bank's first female branch manager. Nelson earned her promotion through years of hard work. By 1967, she had worked in the banking industry for 17 years. She started out in entry-level positions, including as a customer attendant in the Safe Deposit department. Over time, she pursued new opportunities, gaining experience as a loan officer, operations supervisor, and assistant cashier. She lobbied her manager to give her more responsibilities and eventually worked her way up to assistant manager of a busy branch in Stonestown, a suburb of San Francisco, in 1964.
Wells Fargo rapidly expanded its branch network in the 1960s, growing from just one California branch in 1919 to more than 230 branches in the state by 1967. When the bank had plans to open a new branch in Pacifica, California, Nelson's manager thought of Nelson's energy and ambition and recommended her for the post.
'Now I don't see any stops'
Nelson's appointment was the first of a large shift at Wells Fargo. Women continued to gain new positions that had previously been off-limits to them.
In 1975, the Wells Fargo Banker publication featured Nelson and other women working at Wells Fargo, highlighting how the bank had rapidly changed over a few years, and how qualified women were filling more and more jobs previously dominated by men. At the time, women held 36 percent of the management positions in the company.
Janet Wright, vice president for personnel and data processing, was one of the women featured in the article. "I joined the Bank in 1937 as a bookkeeper in the Trust Division," Wright said. "At that time, women only held bookkeeping and secretarial positions. During the war (World War II) I became a dividend clerk, a senior clerical post which previously had been held only by men. … It was very exciting when that first woman was named trust officer. We just accepted the notion that women were not officers and had only certain jobs. We never really felt discriminated against. Looking back, it seems it took a long time to reach that level. Now, qualified women can go into any line of work. … It's a different world."
The article also featured Nancy King, a training officer who talked about an interview she had in the past for a different position. "I was turned down because the manager ― a man ― didn't think I could lift coin," King said in the article. "Now it's hard to find managers who don't want women as their co-workers. Women have shown they can handle the work and perform well. They have proved themselves valuable in the branches."
By this time, Nelson had left Pacifica to lead the Stonestown branch — a branch that did over five times the business — as its new manager. "Opportunities for women definitely changed in recent years," Nelson said in the publication. "More women are officers, and there are more openings for women. Now I don't see any stops."
In later years, Nelson managed one of the bank's busiest branches in downtown San Francisco. When she retired, it was with the knowledge that women at Wells Fargo would continue to grow and gain more opportunity than ever before.
SHE Can Do It! Consider Companies With Women Who Lead
Below is an article originally written by the Stash Team, who is a PowerToFly Partner. Go to Stash's page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.
As Beyonce says, it's women (and girls) who run the world. So If you want to invest in companies with women in leadership roles, then the Women Who Lead ETF might be right up your alley.
Let's break it down: Women make up half the population of the planet, as well as half the workforce in the U.S. But when it comes to management positions at jobs, there's a big gender gap.
Women make up less than 15% of chief executives at all companies, and just 4.6% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies, according to the Center for American Progress. Tech companies aren't disrupting the status quo either. In Silicon Valley, just 11% of executives were women, as of 2014.
"Women are still underrepresented at every corporate level and hold less than 30% of roles in senior management, "Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal. "And women hit the glass ceiling early: They are far less likely than men to be promoted from entry level to manager, and they continue to lose ground incrementally the more senior they become."
Women Who Lead, which has the ticker SHE, based on the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF, wants to change that. It invests in the largest U.S. companies where women have important leadership roles.
What's inside the fund?
SHE first analyzes the 1000 largest U.S. companies, seeking ones with a high proportion of women in executive positions, which it defines as people in vice president roles or higher.
Each firm selected for the fund must have at least one woman on its board, or as a chief executive.
Women Who Lead invests in the stocks of 169 companies, as of December 8, 2017*, including many that you probably interact with on a daily basis. These include Coca-Cola, McDonald's, IBM, Mastercard, and PepsiCo. The fund also includes shares in the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, calculator and semiconductor producer Texas Instruments, as well as defense company Lockheed Martin.
Want to know more about the companies in this ETF? Click here.
Who is this investment for?
Increasing numbers of investors care about the social goals of the companies in which they invest, and they want to make sure those goals align with their own.
If gender equality and diversity are important to you, this fund may be for you.
Risks and performance
The fund launched in 2016, so it's relatively new, which means it doesn't have a long track record compared to some other funds. At the same time, the fund represents companies with a social goal of promoting gender diversity in executive leadership.
Generally speaking, companies with social goals can potentially build stronger brand recognition with consumers, may have an advantage attracting top talent, and can potentially be in the vanguard of companies conforming to new government regulations, which could all affect performance, according an analyst for Morningstar in 2015.
SHE doesn't over-allocate its stocks in any one industry and is similar to a broad market fund, according to analysts, which is important for anyone who wants to diversify. SHE had a year to date return of 18.43% as of December 8, 2017. By comparison, Workplace Equality ETF (EQLT), a fund that holds the stocks of companies that support workplace equality of LGBT employees, had a return of 19.23% over the same time period.**
Other considerations
SHE has an expense ratio of 0.2%. That's roughly half the expense ratio of the average ETF, which is 0.44%, according to the Wall Street Journal.
What are some other investments like this?
Stash offers other ETFs that have social goals. Some examples are Equality Works (EQLT), which invests in companies that promote workplace equality for LGBT employees;
Clean and Green (ICLN) highlights companies working to combat global warming by developing renewable energy; and Do the Right Thing (SUSA), focuses on companies with high environmental, social, and corporate governance scores.
Top Takeaways:
- SHE invests in large companies with at least one woman in an executive position.
- The fund might be good for investors who care about social goals and the impact of the companies in which they invest.
- SHE doesn't invest in one sector or industry and might be good for investors seeking diversification.
*Source: State Street Global Advisors
**Source: Yahoo Finance
By Stash Team
