Female fund fail
US women pale in big global study
Women still can’t get a toehold into the top jobs of global finance, according to a new study.
Only one in five mutual funds around the world has a woman manager — a figure that has stayed the same since 2008, according to a study by Morningstar Research.
In the US, the figure is even lower: Only 10 percent of fund managers are women. The data includes more than 26,000 mutual funds in 56 countries.
The lack of women fund managers is most pronounced in countries with large, established financial centers, such as the US, Switzerland and Germany. Meanwhile, smaller — and in some cases newer — financial centers have a much greater representation of female fund managers. For example, more than a quarter of fund managers in Singapore, Portugal, Spain and Hong Kong are women, the study found.
In order to earn top spots, women fund managers often have more cre- dentials than their male peers, according to the study, which cited the Chartered Financial Analyst designation — a notoriously difficult designation earned by taking three tests typically over a three-year period.
“The CFA designation may be an objective measure that helps women overcome employers’ implicit stereotypes about gender and analytical ability,” Morningstar wrote.
Bank of America alum Sallie Krawcheck, an early glass-ceiling breaker who has been working to erase the woman gap in the corner office, helped launch the Pax World Global Women’s Equality Fund, which invests in companies that promote women’s leadership.
“Sometimes, I think we believe the advancement of feminism is inevitable and inexorable, but as we’ve seen recently — forget what your politics are — it can be two steps forward, three steps back, one step forward, two steps back,” Krawcheck said at a conference in New Jersey earlier this month.