Good Practices of Stock Exchanges to Advance Women's Opportunities: A review of seven exchanges

This Market Monitor reviews good practices implemented by seven stock exchanges who are respective leaders in the market according to corporate board gender diversity: the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Bursa Malaysia, Borsa İstanbul, Euronext Paris, Japan Exchange Group (JPX), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), and Latinex (Panama). 

Findings show that exchanges are increasingly promoting gender equality through three complementary areas:

• Gender-focused and gender-aware products and services, including gender bonds, gender equality indices, sustainability-linked instruments, and investor education initiatives that expand women’s participation as investors and entrepreneurs.
• By encouraging or requiring disclosure of gender-related metrics, supporting governance frameworks and board diversity targets, and offering tools, training, and partnerships that help issuers translate expectations into practice.
• Through internal policies on diversity, pay equity, parental leave, leadership development, and transparent reporting on their own gender outcomes, reinforcing credibility and signalling commitment to gender equality to the market.

This report was developed by the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (UN SSE) initiative in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and with the support of the Government of Luxembourg.

This Market Monitor contributes to a joint UN SSE–IFC research programme, undertaken in strategic collaboration with UN Women.

Download the full report here.