Miyuki Kashima was one of the first female fund managers in Japan, with a career that dates back to the mid-1980s, before the country's bubble burst. Now she's outperforming the benchmark index by buying companies that hire and promote more women.
For more than three decades, the BNY Mellon Asset Management investor was a rare female voice in an industry dominated by men, in a country where women were underused and treated as second-class citizens in the workforce.
But in recent years, she's seen clear signs of change. So much so that she and her team built a fund around the theme. The BNY Mellon Womenomics Fund, which has $22.5 million in assets in Japan, picks companies that hire and promote women or develop products designed to meet their needs. It's beaten the benchmark Topix index every year since its inception.