The number of women in the 401k industry specifically, and financial services overall, is frustratingly low. A new report from Morningstar does little to dispel the disappointment, at least when it comes to their role as portfolio managers.
The Chicago-based research behemoth published a new report Monday which finds that across 56 countries, one in five funds has a female portfolio manager. In the study’s eight-year time frame, the ratio has not improved.
The company’s second research report about fund managers and gender considered more than 26,000 fund managers, comparing the man-to-woman ratio of fund managers to other professions that require similar education, including doctors and lawyers, by country.
Thankfully, the report also identifies areas of the industry where women have been making relative gains.
Among the findings:
- About one in five funds has at least one manager who is a woman, a figure that has not improved since the global financial crisis of 2008.
- Countries with large financial centers have lower proportions of women fund managers than many smaller markets.
- Women have better odds of running funds in areas of industry growth–passive, funds of funds, and team-managed funds. Likewise, it appears more difficult for women to win management roles in the more established parts of the fund industry: actively managed funds and solo-managed funds.
- In some asset classes, women fund managers are more-credentialed than men, yet they’re still broadly underrepresented in fund portfolio manager ranks.
- Women have lower odds today of managing the types of funds that were once more likely to have women managers, including smaller funds and socially responsible funds.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
