On International Women's Day 2019, the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was the scene of an unprecedented sight: almost 200 women and some men had gathered there to ring the belI for gender equality.  

Claire Peel, CFO of the asset manager DWS Group, gave an inspiring speech on gender gaps, women in the industry and female investment opportunities. She mentioned interesting facts, such as the fact that the performance of listed companies with experienced women in management is six percent above average. Finally, she gave the audience three pieces of advice: to support each other, not to sell below value and to interfere.

The call for the Opening Bell came from ”Women in ETFs”, a business network of women in the investment industry that has been organising a global bell ringing on numerous stock exchanges worldwide for many years. The network receives support from the UN Women and UN Global Impact initiatives, the Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE) and numerous companies, among others.

But this year's Deutsche Börse event went far beyond ringing the opening bell. Numerous women from outside the clientele were invited to the subsequent network breakfast and the investor lectures ”by women for women” – such as journalists, bloggers, financial advisors and private investors. A group of Mongolian women from all over Europe also enjoyed the event together with the Mongolian cultural ambassador.

The presentations for female investors following the opening bell were quickly fully booked. BlackRock and the DWS discussed investment for women with ETFs, also with a focus on sustainability. Two representatives from Deutsche Börse then gave an introduction to stock exchange trading and explained popular misunderstandings about investing in the stock market. Obviously, there is a great need for such information.

The response of the participants was remarkably good. ”Motivating”, ”new ideas” and ”really good conversations” were the words after the presentations by numerous women.