Opalesque Industry Update - Representation has improved over the last two years, but a strong imbalance remains, according to Preqin, a provider of data, analytics and insights to the alternative assets community:
Preqin's landmark 2020 Women in Alternatives study finds that more women are working in the alternatives space compared to two years ago. The proportion of alternative assets employees that are female has grown to 19.7% in 2019, up from 18.8% in 2017. But the findings also highlight that there is a lot of progress yet to be made. At senior levels, a significant gender imbalance remains - just 12% of senior alternatives employees are women. Regionally, North America and Europe lead the way when it comes to female representation. But fund managers everywhere trail investors. Institutions are more diverse at every level of seniority, although the representation of women employees decreases as the AUM of an investor rises.
Joanna Nye - VP, Research Enablement says: "Over the last two years we have seen a modest increase in female representation in the alternatives industry. Modest, but not insignificant - this rise does represent real gains in the number of women employed in the industry. Fund managers have clearly realized that this is an issue for them, and some larger firms have announced plans to attract and retain more female talent. But diversity pledges and childcare schemes must be weighed against accusations of uncomfortable working environments and the chronic underrepresentation of women on company boards and in C-suite positions. Firms may be attracting more junior female employees, but they still promote men at far greater rates."
Key Women in Alternatives Facts:
• Globally, the proportion of women employees in alternative assets has grown to 19.7% in 2019, up from 18.8% in 2017.
• Private equity (19.4%), venture capital (21.1%) and real assets fund managers (19.6%) have the greatest proportion of female employees.
• Women make up 30% of junior employees, 25% of mid-level staff, and just 11.9% of employees at a senior level.
• Across all asset classes, venture capital has the largest proportion of senior women employees (13.4%) and real estate the lowest (8.5%), the only sector with single digits.
• In North America, 20.4% of alternatives fund manager jobs are held by women, followed by Europe at 19.1%, Asia at 18.8% and the Rest of the World at 17.5%.
• Women are much better represented at institutional investors, accounting for 27.8% of employees in total.
• However, female representation at investors is inversely correlated with size: women represent 31.7% of employees at investors with less than $1bn in AUM, compared to 25.6% when assets are $100bn or more.
This study is based on an analysis of over 200,000 contacts at alternative assets firms known to Preqin, across all asset classes. It does not include administrative or support staff.
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For more information and analysis, see the full Preqin Impact Report: Women in Alternative Assets here: