Dive Brief:

• Amazon lost to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission last week when a regulator decided that the company should allow shareholders to vote on a proposal on gender pay equality, according to a Reuters report.
• Reuters reports that Arjuna Capital, the activist arm of investment firm Baldwin Brothers Inc., requested Amazon to report the difference between males' and females' pay and its plans to close the gap. Among the nine companies that got the request, Amazon was the only one that asked to be excused from the proposal.
• Reuters noted that chances of enforcing the proposal successfully are slim, but having a major brand like Amazon on board with such a change can be a prime mover for change. The SEC said it disagreed with Amazon, who claimed the proposal was "so inherently vague or indefinite" that it would be tough to actually do.

Dive Insight:

Amazon had no comment, other than an email to Reuters that said it was "committed to fairly and equitably compensating all our employees, and we review all employee compensation on at least an annual basis to ensure that it meets that bar."

Amazon also said it was working with organizations such as Code.org, the Anita Borg Institute and Girls Who Code to increase diversity and equal pay and opportunity for women in the tech industry.

"It's not simply a social justice issue," Natasha Lamb, director of shareholder engagement at Arjuna, told Reuters. "It's an issue that affects performance, affects the company's ability to attract and retain top talent."

Lamb also told Reuters that Apple and Intel were taken off the request list after they made serious commitments to equality. For one, Intel set aside $300 million for diversity and reported its employees were equally paid, regardless of gender.