The need for gender equality in investing

The investment business has long been a male dominated environment. Take a look at investment management in all its forms right now - mutual, hedge, private equity, and venture capital funds - and the lack of women fund managers is all too obvious. Women control between 1% and 3.5% of assets under management, depending on specific class. Only 2% of mutual funds are managed exclusively by women portfolio managers, and in the hedge fund universe, a mere 4% of the portfolio managers are women, but only 1.5% of the assets under their control. Private equity is the only subsector in which the percent of women-controlled assets exceeds 3%, which is still small. The lack of women fund managers could be a contributing factor to the continuing challenge of women entrepreneurs getting access to funding, in all its forms. A recent IFC study suggested that investment decision-making is usually done by a small group of people, and if the group does not have gender balance, then you are not getting a balanced decision-making perspective. This situation is reflected in the fact that only 7 percent of emerging market private equity and venture capital is invested in women-led companies. Yet, female partners invested in almost twice as many female entrepreneurs as male partners. Ask any woman entrepreneur who is in need of funding right now and she will tell you the need for gender equality in investing has never been greater. Ultimately, getting better gender representation in investment firms just makes good business sense for everyone involved, it just needs to happen faster!