Women make up only a quarter of investment roles

More women are working for listed and unlisted fund managers than ever before, but only make up less than a quarter of investment team roles, according to research from health industry fund HESTA. 

The research surveyed 60 of the fund’s investment partners which found 24% of investment team roles were filled by women, with 22% filling management roles at an aggregate level. 

Improvement in representation was driven by more women filling mid-level investment roles. For listed managers, there was an increase in the percentage of roles held by women at the levels of head of investments (11% in 2018 vs 14% in 2020) and portfolio manager (10% versus 14%). 

For unlisted managers, there was a general increase in the percentage of roles held by women, with notable growth at the senior vice president (19% in 2018 vs 32% in 2020), investment director (23% vs 28%) and managing director (6% vs 20%) levels. 

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However, in the senior investment leadership roles for both listed and unlisted managers, numbers had not changed since 2018. 

There were still no female chief investment officers in listed managers, and for unlisted managers, women at the partner level remained unchanged at 10%.  

For listed managers, the amount women were hired fell for portfolio managed (17% in 2018 and 13% in 2020) and senior investment analyst (33% versus 20%). 

But women leading investment teams increased at the portfolio manager level from 0% to 11% in 2020. 

Internal promotions were noticeably lower for female portfolio managers (20% in 2018 vs 4% in 2020), senior investment analysts (45% vs 36%) and investment analysts (40% vs 17%). 

For unlisted managers, more women were hired at all levels except at partner, with the biggest increase was at senior vice president.