The SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity ETF joins a growing number of investment approaches based on the premise that corporations that select more women to hold positions of authority also perform better by traditional business measures.

The index fund selects from the largest U.S. public companies, based on market capitalization, that disclose the greatest proportion of women in senior leadership and board-level positions.

As of Feb. 29, based on the fund's selection criteria, it would have invested in 144 of the largest 1,000 U.S. stocks.

The top companies on that list are Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Home Depot Inc., and Oracle Corp., according to a disclosure of the fund's holdings on Monday before it launched.

Russell 1000 companies with gender-diverse staff posted higher pretax margins, return on assets, return on invested capital and return on equity, according to UBS AG data last month.

Yet women hold just 4 percent of chief executive jobs at S&P 500 companies and one-fifth of the board seats, despite forming half of the labor force at the companies, according to 2015 data from Catalyst Inc., an advocacy group.

A range of investment managers are targeting similar themes, including funds like Barclays Women in Leadership ETN, the Glenmede Women in Leadership U.S. Equity-Large Cap mutual fund and Pax Ellevate Global Women's Index Fund.