Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) has introduced legislation that would give federal employees the option to invest through the Thrift Savings Plan in companies that demonstrate a strong commitment to gender diversity and women’s economic empowerment.
Known as the Gender Diversity Investment Act (H.R. 2432), the legislation would provide a Gender Equality-Focused Stock Index under the TSP that focuses on gender diversity, allowing Federal employees to invest in companies with proven track records of empowering women.
“This legislation would provide federal workers the opportunity to invest their retirement savings in companies that have made a commitment to gender diversity at the highest levels,” said Beyer. “It makes good business sense. Studies show companies that have women in leadership outperform companies that do not. Companies that value the talents, ideas, and contributions women bring to corporate leadership end up having better returns on investment than those that ignore half the talent pool.”
This is not the first time that the idea of “socially responsible” investments inside of the TSP has been proposed by lawmakers. We have written several articles in the past about similar proposals – see for example Bill Would Create “Socially Responsible” TSP Fund.
Despite the recurring theme of the idea, FedSmith.com users have shown a strong distaste for such proposals in the past. As we wrote a few years ago, FedSmith.com users do not trust Congress when it comes to handling their TSP accounts.
Have your feelings about socially responsible investments within the TSP changed? Feel free to share your thoughts on the subject in the comments below.
