The fund management industry is not a popular career choice for women and job interviews are considered more suitable for male traits, researchers found.
As many as 85% of senior women in the industry were concerned that “interviews favour the confrontational or are unnecessarily biased towards male traits”, Longwater Partners said after surveying 22 global asset management firms.
Longwater, a London-based asset management consultancy, warned that the industry was in danger of looking “inappropriate and obsolete in a contemporary world”.
Among the research findings were that:
- 60% of women surveyed at fund management firms had not pursued fund management as a post-graduate career
- 68% felt they were in a distinct minority at group interview
- 71% were “regularly the only woman in the room”
- Only 10% of women found female networking events beneficial
The survey found that over 80% of investment staff were male and that women represented just 18.8% of investors at asset management firms in fund manager or analyst roles.
Culture was seen as the defining issue in diversity.
“Without a widespread cultural shift, no single change in policy will lead to lasting improvements”, said Longwater.
Gender diversity in asset management is generally viewed as positive, but a gender gap is well known to exist.
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