TotalEnergies refinery in Saudi Arabia damaged in incident
TotalEnergies refinery in Saudi Arabia damaged in incident
Why the AI Takeover Could Be the Best Thing for Your Professional Future
Welcome to the future — a future where artificial intelligence (AI) plays a larger role in our work lives. As AI continues to grow and become more sophisticated, uncertainties arise around its implications for the future of work. For many, it’s only natural to wonder: “What jobs will AI replace?” and “Where do I fit into this new world?” Let’s address the elephant in the room. Yes…
Empower Personal Finance Review: Pros And Cons
Quick Summary
- Robust personal finance tracking tools (free to use)
- Wealth management services for higher-net-worth clients
- High-yield cash account offers 3.00% APY
Pros
Cons
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) has evolved into a financial platform that combines free money-management tools with paid wealth-management services. It serves two distinct audiences: people looking for a powerful (and free) way to track everything from their net worth to their monthly budget, and higher-net-worth folks who want personalized investment management. In this Empower review, I’ll cover the key features, pros and cons, and help you decide if it’s worth making Empower the central hub for your finances.
What Is Empower?
Empower is a U.S.-based financial tracking platform and investment manager. It’s best known for its free financial dashboard, where you can track your spending, budget, monitor your investment portfolio, and more. It also offers professional wealth management, where you can meet with a financial planner to manage your portfolio for a fee. They effectively use their free dashboard to generate leads for their investment management services.
Empower was founded in 2010 and was acquired by Empower Retirement in July 2020. In 2023, Personal Capital was rebranded as Empower.
We also named Empower one of our best budgeting apps of 2026!
What Does It Offer?
Empower combines free financial tracking tools with optional banking and wealth management services designed for long-term investors. Here’s a closer look at its key features:
Empower Personal Cash
Empower offers a high-yield cash account with a competitive interest rate and no minimum balance requirements. At the time of this writing, it offers a 3.00% APY, and deposits are insured by the FDIC for up to $5M. You can view your account details on your Empower Personal Dashboard, the same place where you can plan your budget, debt repayment, and track your net worth.
Related: The Best Portfolio Analysis Tools
Wealth Management
For clients with investible assets of $100,000 or more, Empower offers wealth management services. Annual advisory fees are based on the percentage of assets under management, and range from 0.89% to 0.49%.
Personal Strategy
Empower’s core wealth management service, Personal Strategy, provides professionally managed portfolios that comprise a mix of low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and individual securities. You provide Empower with your investment goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance, and it constructs a customized portfolio accordingly, taking into account tax efficiency and rebalancing. Personal Strategy clients have access to a team of financial planning specialists when needed. AUM fees start at 0.89%.
Private Client Services
For higher-net-worth clients, Empower offers Private Client Services. This service includes more personalized planning, access to dedicated advisors, and more in-depth financial guidance. This service allows Empower to compete more directly with traditional advisory firms, not only automated investing platforms.
Investment Accounts
Don’t have $100,000 or more to invest? Empower also lets you open managed portfolios, with mutual fund portfolios that are automatically rebalanced. There is no minimum investment required, and annual fees start at 0.50%. If you prefer to control your own investment decisions, Empower offers a self-directed trading option. You can choose from a wide range of mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks, and options, and you get 1,000 free trades per year.
IRAs
Empower offers retirement accounts, including traditional and Roth IRAs, as part of its managed investment services. These accounts are connected to its retirement planning tool, so you can easily see how your IRA contributions and investment growth affect your financial outlook over the long term.
Financial Tools
Last but certainly not least are Empower’s suite of financial tools, which are all free to use. This includes net worth tracking, budgeting, and cash flow analysis, a retirement planner, portfolio analysis tools, debt paydown tracking, savings planning, an emergency fund tracker, and transaction monitoring. You’ll be hard-pressed to find another financial company that offers all of these tools (for free) in a single platform.
Are There Any Fees?
One of Empower’s biggest advantages is that its core financial tracking tools are completely free. You can link your accounts, monitor your net worth, use the retirement planner, and analyze your spending without paying a cent.
That said, fees come into play if you opt into wealth management. As mentioned, Empower charges a percentage of assets under management (AUM), starting at 0.89% annually, with tiered pricing that declines as your balance increases. There are no trading fees with managed portfolios, but the underlying ETFs may charge their own expense ratios. There are no monthly maintenance fees for the high-yield cash account.
How Does Empower Compare?
Empower is slightly different than other popular investing platforms like Wealthfront or Vanguard. Wealthfront is a pure robo-advisor with lower fees and a more automated approach (no human advisors). Vanguard offers low-cost funds and optional advisory services, but it doesn’t have as many financial tracking tools as Empower. The right platform for you will depend on what you’re looking for.
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Annual Fee |
0.89% |
0.25% |
0.30% |
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Min Investment |
$100,000 |
$500 |
$50,000 |
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Advice Options |
Auto and Human |
Auto |
Auto and Human |
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Banking? |
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Cell
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How Do I Open An Account?
You can get started with Empower within a few minutes by creating a free profile and linking your financial accounts. This unlocks the dashboard and free planning tools. From there, you can explore the other products, like the cash account and wealth management services. Advisory services will require an onboarding process that would include a consultation with an advisor to assess your financial goals.
Is Empower Safe To Use?
Yes, you should consider Empower safe to use. It employs bank-level encryption and other standard security protocols to protect your information. This includes multi-factor authentication and read-only access to linked accounts. Investment accounts are protected with SIPC insurance, and its high-yield cash account is FDIC-insured through Empower’s bank partners.
How Do I Contact Empower?
New customers can contact Empower by telephone at 877-630-4015. If you have an investment account, you can log into your Empower account and contact a representative.
Empower’s corporate headquarters are located at:
8515 E. Orchard Road
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Why Should You Trust Us?
I have extensive experience using “Personal Financial Managers” (PFMs) like Empower. I started using Quicken in the early 2000s to track my personal finances, and since then, I’ve used or tested almost every budgeting and investment-tracking app on the market.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours using Empower for both testing and tracking my own finances, using both the web version and the app on my iPhone.
Combine my personal experience with that of our amazing team of editors and testers, and we have over 100 years of combined experience using, reviewing, and testing budgeting apps and tools!
Is It Worth It?
Empower is one of the best all-in-one financial dashboards available today, and should be considered a no-brainer if you want a free way to track your net worth and plan for retirement. Its tools are intuitive and very useful, something that can’t be said for a lot of personal finance platforms. When it comes to investing, keep in mind that its wealth management fees are higher than most robo-advisors. If you value personalized advice, it might be a strong option. But if low-cost investing is your priority, there are cheaper alternatives worth considering.
Get Started with Empower>>
Editor: Colin Graves
Reviewed by: Ashley Barnett
The post Empower Personal Finance Review: Pros And Cons appeared first on The College Investor.
Will Mortgage Rates Move Higher in May and June as They Do Historically?
So far this year, mortgage rates are behaving as they typically do.
They fell in the winter months and began rising in spring.
Right on schedule, the 30-year fixed hit a multi-year low in the month of February, which has been the best month for mortgage rates going back to 1972.
I did the research on this so I know. And like clockwork, they jumped in March and went even higher in April, despite having one good week recently.
The next logical question is do they move even higher in May and June, historically the worst months for mortgage rates on record?
Watch Out for Higher Mortgage Rates Next Month and Through Summer
As noted, I researched mortgage rate data going back to 1972, using Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey.
I found that February was the best month for mortgage rates historically, though there are always exceptions to the rule.
Conversely, mortgage rates were found to be highest in the late spring and summer months, namely May and June.
It’s nearly mid-April and mortgage rates are a lot higher than they were in February.
Back at the end of February, the 30-year fixed hit a 3.5-year low of about 5.98%, per Freddie Mac.
Then we got the unexpected conflict in the Middle East, which quickly sent mortgage rates flying.
Sure, nobody could have predicted that, but one way or another, trends always seem to present themselves.
At last glance, the 30-year fixed is averaging around 6.40%, so it’s up about a half point since those February lows.
Of course, it’s also down about 0.25% from the highs seen at the end of March when the 30-year fixed was closer to 6.625%.
I assumed rates would keep moving higher from there, possibly touching 6.75% and then 6.875%.
But as we all know, mortgage rates don’t move in the straight line, even if they’re trending in one direction, which appears to be UP right now.
This Could Be the Calm Before the Storm
Mortgage rates have gotten a slight reprieve lately, falling about 0.25% from recent highs, per MND’s daily index.
But it could be temporary, if we use historical data/trends as a guide, coupled with a really flimsy ceasefire in the Middle East.
After the ceasefire was announced Tuesday evening, we didn’t even go 24 hours, or even 12 hours, without more bombings and aggression in the region.
Then it was reported that the Strait of Hormuz was closed again, which seems to be the biggest issue for the global economy.
The fighting can continue, but if the Strait remains closed, oil prices will remain elevated near $100 per barrel and take that much longer to eventually normalize.
Assuming this happens, which is not at all far-fetched, chances are bond yields will rise again, inflation will rise, and mortgage rates will test new highs.
That’s where my prediction for a 30-year fixed at 6.75% or 6.875% comes in, perhaps in May and June.
It would be right on schedule, assuming we believe in historical mortgage rate trends.
And it would fit the narrative of things get worse before they get better.
But Mortgage Rates Could Still Fall Later in the Year
Since this conflict started, I’ve felt mortgage rates would go up, then eventually ease after late summer.
Those hoping the worst is behind us might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
It just doesn’t seem likely that given all that’s transpired, we can get back on our merry way and forget it all happened.
There will be lasting consequences, even if the tenuous ceasefire holds up, which it doesn’t look like it will.
In other words, more pain for mortgage rates for several months ahead, perhaps for the next six months.
But maybe just maybe you start to see improvement as the midterm elections become top of mind later in the year.
We know President Trump wants low mortgage rates. He campaigned on it and has talked about it repeatedly.
It will without a doubt be a goal to get rates lower. How he accomplishes that remains to be seen.
Even if he doesn’t have a direct hand in it, they might come another way. By way of recession…
Read on: Do mortgage rates go up or down during recessions?
(photo: Michael Coghlan)
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 19 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.
Billionaire Bill Gates Has 59% of His Foundation’s $36 Billion Portfolio Invested in 3 Brilliant Stocks
Bill Gates was once the wealthiest person in the world thanks to the remarkable success of Microsoft, the company he co-founded and led to become one of the largest businesses in the world. Today, he’s still worth over $100 billion despite giving away a large chunk of his wealth through the Gates Foundation.
Gates founded the philanthropy organization focused on improving global health, combating poverty, and overcoming inequality in 2000. Gates has mostly moved away from Microsoft to focus on the foundation, with plans to give away practically all of his remaining wealth by 2045.
The main vehicle for that is through a trust fund established by the foundation, which includes a stock portfolio worth about $36 billion as of this writing. But you won’t find Microsoft among its top three holdings. Instead, the trust prefers to hold great value stocks, and 59% of the portfolio is invested in just three brilliant companies.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Berkshire Hathaway (25.4%)
The Gates Foundation receives shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA +1.02%) (BRKB +1.20%) every year from Warren Buffett as part of his annual giving. While Buffett’s donation requires the foundation to spend an amount equal to what he gives plus 5% of the trust’s remaining assets, the trust fund managers have built up a substantial stake in Berkshire worth over $9 billion, as of this writing.
Berkshire Hathaway stock has traded lower over the last year, following Warren Buffett’s resignation announcement. Greg Abel took over as CEO at the start of 2026, and he’s picking up right where Buffett left off.
The bulk of Berkshire’s value stems from its liquid assets, including $373 billion in cash and Treasury bills and $318 billion in marketable equities. Abel has made a few small moves in the portfolio as he looks for ways to deploy that massive cash pile, and he outlined stocks he considers core holdings that should be in the portfolio indefinitely in his first letter to shareholders. That list includes Apple, which Buffett consistently sold through the last two years of his tenure as CEO. It also includes Berkshire’s Japanese stock holdings, which Abel recently added to with Tokio Marine.
Today’s Change
(1.20%) $5.76
Current Price
$485.51
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1.0T
Day’s Range
$477.50 – $487.90
52wk Range
$455.19 – $542.07
Volume
232K
Avg Vol
4.8M
Gross Margin
23.63%
Berkshire’s core insurance business produced positive results in 2025. The terrible L.A. wildfires at the start of the year led to underwriting losses, but that was balanced out by an extremely quiet hurricane season. The railroad business showed improvements in operating margin, but Abel noted there’s still room to expand its profits based on competitors’ results.
The solid results aren’t reflected in the company’s stock performance, though. The decline in share price has pushed its price-to-book ratio to the lowest level since the start of 2024. It led Abel to restart Berkshire’s share repurchase program, and it looks like an opportunity for retail investors to buy into the stock as well.
2. WM (18.6%)
WM (WM +0.72%), formerly Waste Management, is one of the longest-held stocks in the Gates Foundation trust’s portfolio. The vertically integrated waste hauler sports a vast network of transfer stations and a sizable portfolio of landfills. That’s a position unlikely to be replicated, thanks to the significant regulatory hurdles involved in establishing new landfills. As such, it collects tipping fees from third-party waste haulers using its resources.
WM has expanded horizontally as well, most recently through the 2024 acquisition of Stericycle. It rebranded the medical waste service, WM Healthcare Solutions, and it’s seeing good progress integrating it with its broader waste hauling service. The segment’s adjusted operating margin reached 17.1% last quarter, up from 15.1% in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Today’s Change
(0.72%) $1.67
Current Price
$233.10
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$94B
Day’s Range
$230.87 – $234.40
52wk Range
$194.11 – $248.13
Volume
1.6M
Avg Vol
2.3M
Gross Margin
29.08%
Dividend Yield
1.47%
Management looks to continue investing in new areas to expand the business while producing strong free cash flow growth. Management’s outlook for 2026 calls for 29% growth in free cash flow at the midpoint on top of 27% growth in 2025. Meanwhile, its investments in renewable energy and recycling are expected to generate between $235 billion and $255 billion in additional earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) next year.
WM shares currently trade for 28 times earnings. That’s certainly high for a company producing organic revenue growth in the single digits. However, margin expansion combined with share repurchases should enable the company to grow earnings per share at a double-digit pace. As such, investors may want a slightly better price to invest in the stock, but it doesn’t appear too far above fair value right now.
3. Canadian National Railway (15%)
Canadian National Railway (CNI +2.30%) operates one of the largest networks of railroad tracks that spans from coast to coast in Canada and down the middle of the United States to New Orleans. It can efficiently transfer freight from Canada to the Southern United States, bypassing Chicago when it makes sense, which is often a bottleneck for other railroads.
The international railroad operator has faced challenges due to tariffs over the past year, after President Trump imposed significant tariffs on Canadian forest products, metals, and automobiles. That led to a noticeable drop in shipments for those items, but Canadian National made up for it with an increase in grain shipments and intermodal shipping opportunities. As a result, it managed to eke out a 2% increase in revenue for the year.
Canadian National Railway
Today’s Change
(2.30%) $2.48
Current Price
$110.14
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$67B
Day’s Range
$108.39 – $110.53
52wk Range
$90.74 – $113.08
Volume
2M
Avg Vol
1.8M
Gross Margin
44.88%
Dividend Yield
2.37%
The main opportunities for Canadian National Railway in the near term are consolidating its gains and increasing its cash flow. Management is pulling back significantly on capital expenditures this year, with expectations for just $2.8 billion in capital expenditures for 2026, down 15% from 2025. That should allow it to execute on its buyback program, which has authorization to buy up to 24 million shares.
The company may see its operating ratio and revenue improve as pressure from tariffs abates in 2027 and beyond. That could lead to strong earnings growth when combined with the share repurchase activity. As such, its P/E ratio of 18.8 looks like a good price to pay for the stock right now.
Spruce Money: $100 Signup Bonus and $100 Referrals
Spruce Money Bonus
Spruce is a mobile banking platform and financial technology app built by H&R Block that provides spending, savings, and budgeting tools. It is not a bank itself, but provides banking services through Pathward®, N.A., Member FDIC.
Now they are offering a $100 signup bonus and referral bonus. Both parties earn $100 and there’s a limit of 5 referrals. If you have a referral, you can share it in our Facebook Group. If you’re looking to apply, check out the details below.
Offer Details
Here’s how this bonus works:
- Open a new Spruce Account between April 1, 2026 and April 15, 2026 using a valid and unexpired referral link
- Receives $200 in qualifying direct deposits (see what works) and activate Spruce debit card (you can just quickly update the virtual debit card) within 45 days.
- The $100 reward amount will be deposited into your Spruce Spending Account within 7 business days after all requirements are completed.
Important Terms
- Not available for residents of Washington state.
- Offer may be modified or discontinued at any time.
Guru’s Wrap-up
This is a small but easy bonus. It takes just 30 seconds to open the account and you get $100 for completing a $200 direct deposit.
If you’re in 2-player mode, you can also invite P2 and earn a total of $300.
I don’t have any datapoints on what triggers the direct deposit requirement. So if you have any, you can share them in the comments below or here.
TuneCore partners with RoyFi to offer royalty advances to indie artists
TuneCore, the Believe-owned digital distribution platform for self-releasing artists, is rolling out a new royalty advance program for eligible independent artists through a new partnership with financial tech firm RoyFi.
Through RoyFi, TuneCore launched TuneCore Direct Advance, which lets artists apply for upfront financing in exchange for a flat fee. Repayment is drawn from future royalty earnings, according to a press release on Wednesday (April 8).
Artists can secure direct cash advances without giving up equity or transferring ownership of copyrights, said TuneCore. They can repay the advance through royalty income until the balance hits zero.
Once fully recouped, RoyFi’s claim on those earnings ends automatically and all future royalties revert to the artist. TuneCore says artists can choose between a larger upfront advance or a structure where they control how much of their catalog participates in repayment.
Brian Miller, TuneCore’s newly appointed Chief Business Officer, said: “At TuneCore, we are always listening to our artists to understand their challenges and develop solutions that can help them stay independent, retain their creative control, and keep releasing music on their own terms.”
“At TuneCore, we are always listening to our artists to understand their challenges and develop solutions that can help them stay independent, retain their creative control, and keep releasing music on their own terms.”
Brian Miller, TuneCore
“Whether artists need cash to pay for studio time, new equipment, tour transportation, marketing efforts, or a little help with their rent, we are now able—through our partnership with RoyFI—to give them the option to take an advance that helps them stay independent as they grow, with fair recoupment terms that don’t hurt them in the future.”
Peter Harvey, Chief Executive Officer, RoyFi, added: “TuneCore has long been the standard bearer of independent music distribution, and we’re excited to formalize our partnership to bring transparent, artist-first funding directly to independent creators.”
The partnership was led internally by Bennett Henson, TuneCore’s Senior Director of Strategy.
“TuneCore has long been the standard bearer of independent music distribution, and we’re excited to formalize our partnership to bring transparent, artist-first funding directly to independent creators.”
Peter Harvey, Royfi
TuneCore distributes music to more than 150 streaming and download platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and TikTok, and operates across five continents. It charges artists a flat annual fee and lets them keep 100% of their royalties.
In March, TuneCore reported that its Accelerator program has helped generate 50 billion streams for participating artists since its launch in 2023. The program also helped facilitate 15 billion track discoveries, with 515,000 independent artists currently enrolled. That’s up from 450,000 reported a year ago.
In November, TuneCore said self-releasing artists have earned more than $5 billion via its platform since it was founded in 2006. TuneCore described the milestone at the time as “the first public achievement of its kind” among distributors for self-releasing artists. The milestone came over a year and a half after TuneCore crossed the $4 billion threshold.
Music Business Worldwide
Daily Market Coverage Mar. 24, 2026 9AM-11AM (ET) | Yahoo Finance
Daily Market Coverage Mar. 24, 2026 9AM-11AM (ET) | Yahoo Finance
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Mind the Gender Gap, Edition 3
For sustainable economic growth and the creation of a more equitable society, workforce diversity, wherein people have equitable access to career opportunities regardless of gender, is a critical input. Increasing women’s participation in the workforce tends to accelerate both economic prosperity and social development for a nation. Along with our earlier work on the subject, this report is CFA Institute and CFA Society India’s contribution to raising awareness about gender disparity and encouraging conversations within the industry to bridge this gap.
This third edition of “Mind the Gender Gap” (the first edition was published in March 2023 and the second in December 2024) aims to direct attention toward the subject, serving as a resource for generating dialogue among policymakers, regulators, and industry. In this context, while the capital market regulator is responsible for framing regulations such as the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework, it is essential to determine how these measures are being implemented on the ground.
In May 2021, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) released the BRSR framework, a comprehensive set of sustainability disclosures covering environmental, social, and governance issues. In this report, we analyze the BRSR disclosure data for 300 companies over three reporting periods: fiscal year (FY) 2022–23, FY 2023–24, and FY 2024–25. Our sample selection methodology is designed to provide comprehensive representation, encompassing approximately 70% of total market capitalization of listed companies in India. This approach ensures that the study includes the most significant companies while covering the broader market across different sectors and industries.
This report is designed for both regulators and investors as an input into more effective, evidence-based regulatory decisions and as an effective tool for an investor’s evaluation process. By tracking trends over time and examining how reported data translate into practice, this third edition aims to drive impact toward meaningful gender inclusion. For example, despite strong growth in the total workforce over this period, the representation of women in the workforce for our sample declined between FY 2022–23 and FY 2024–25, indicating that inclusion has not kept pace with expansion.
When we analyze gender participation at the senior level in companies, we find that women’s participation at the board of directors (BoD) level remains between 18% and 19% throughout FY 2022–23, FY 2023–24, and FY 2024–25. The weakest representation for women, however, is among Key Managerial Personnel (KMP): For every seven male KMP, we found less than one female KMP. Almost two-thirds of the sample companies have no female KMP. Additionally, female directors earn significantly less than their male counterparts, with male directors’ remuneration being 3.6 times that of female directors. And, this pay gap has widened during the last three years.
Some sectors, such as Information Technology, Financials, and Consumer Discretionary, have higher female representation in the workforce, typically ranging between 23% and 34%, compared with other sectors such as Communication Services, Energy, Industrials, Materials, Real Estate, and Utilities, where female representation ranges between 4% and 15%. Lower still are Utilities, Materials, and Energy, with only 4%–6% female participation in the workforce, and they also have some of the widest pay gaps at the senior level. Overall, between FY 2022–23 and FY 2024–25, total employment for our sample companies grew by more than 1 million, but female representation constituted only around 18% of this incremental addition.
Several areas have scope for significant improvement. For example, companies must improve disclosures related to remuneration. Additional granularity on data provided pertaining to employees, such as based on hierarchy or roles performed by them along with clear definitions of what those job levels mean, will significantly improve quality analysis and actionable insights. We have observed that the definition of KMP greatly varies from company to company, and this variation may lead to inconsistent results. We recommend that guidelines be issued on classification of KMP and who should be included in that category. This standardization would make the comparison more consistent and useful, both for analysis and for possible corrective measures to reach pay parity.
Beyond board diversity, there is a need to improve diversity within senior management. SEBI has already mandated that companies have at least one female independent director on company boards. It is now essential to think and discuss at the board level how to increase women’s representation in KMP, which has been lagging and has the smallest amount of female representation. Additionally, regarding remuneration disclosure, we recommend further granularity within BoD and KMP at job levels to understand the significant difference in remuneration between men and women.
In the context of education, a clear gap exists between the number of women enrolled in higher education and the opportunities available for them in the workforce. For example, according to data released by the Indian government in 2024, women now constitute 43% of total enrollment in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) streams at the higher education level.[1] Similarly, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education, a 2021–22 report from India’s Ministry of Education, female enrollment in higher education in India reached an all-time high of 20.7 million, with women constituting 48% of total enrollment.[2] The report also highlights that although total (male and female combined) PhD enrollment has increased 81.2% during the period between 2014–15 and 2021–22, female PhD enrollment has more than doubled during the same period. Women now constitute 46% of total new enrollments.
Indian companies are making progress in disclosing useful information on gender participation in the workforce through BRSR in their annual reports. We believe such disclosure is the first step, and a critical one, to making real progress on gender parity, where much work remains. Our analysis also suggests that disclosures remain uneven, however—particularly for senior leadership categories such as BoD and KMP, where definitions and methodology vary across firms. The report’s findings highlight the need for more consistent reporting practices to enable meaningful comparison and accountability.
In a country where women face significant barriers both inside and outside the workplace, we hope our follow-up report, along with our previous work and the work of others, will start a conversation that will eventually make workplaces more diverse and inclusive for women.