According to studies and my own work experience in South America, both women fund managers and women leaders perform as well as, sometimes better than, men doing the same investment. Research from academia and industries indicates that women managers perform at least as well as, sometimes even over a slightly higher margin according to risk-adjusted return ratios and demonstrate a more stable and less risky profile.
For instance, research by Barber & Odean (2001) and later work on a global scale have also found that female fund managers trade less excessively and develop more disciplined, longer-term tactics, which have a positive impact on portfolio performance. Morningstar research has also shown that funds led by women often outperform on a risk-adjusted basis even when headline returns are similar. In my working experience in retail and service companies as a manager of women in Chile and elsewhere from my days in South America, you can see that women managers are equally concerned with fairness and transparency and are also drawn to long-term talent development concerns. In a major retail company, a woman, leading a regional team, implemented criteria for promotion and regular feedback loops in place. This resulted in less internal discord, better collaboration, and drastically low staff turnover. This stability led over time to a better operational performance.
On balance, there is evidence to suggest that women fund managers do, indeed, not perform worse than men and indeed may even outperform men when looking at risk management and value creation in the long term. The enduring gender wage gap thus reflects structural and social biases rather than disparities in ability or accomplishment.
Sources:
- Barber, B. M., & Odean, T. (2001). Boys Will Be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment. Quarterly Journal of Economics.
- Morningstar (2023). Gender Diversity in Fund Management and Performance.
- Kirsch, A. (2018). The gender composition of corporate boards. The Leadership Quarterly.
- Gupta, A. (2019) Women leaders and organizational diversity: their critical role in promoting diversity in organizations, Development and Learning in Organizations, 33(2), pp. 8–11. ScienceDirect
- Catalyst (2020) Why diversity and inclusion matter. catalyst.org
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