BlackRock Votes on Proposals To Get More Women on Boards

BlackRock Inc. (BLK) - Get Report is urging U.S. and Canadian companies to adopt a policy to increase board diversity as it voted for eight shareholder proposals during the second quarter, the world's largest asset manager said in a new report.

"Board diversity, particularly in terms of gender, is important from a sustainable investment perspective given that diverse groups have been demonstrated to make better decisions," BlackRock said. The company noted that it has been particularly focused on increasing the number of women on U.S. boards because progress in the U.S. lags many other markets.

BlackRock did not name the companies it pushed but said that the majority of the companies lacked women on their boards. And, at five of these companies, it voted against the nominating committee members for "failure to address investor concerns on board diversity."

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