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 Among 7,410 portfolio managers of U.S. open-end mutual funds, only 9
percent were women, the study released this month by researchers
from Morningstar Inc of Chicago, and widely discussed at the
research firm’s investor conference this week, found. It also found
that women exclusively managed only about 2 percent of the $12.6
trillion held in those funds.
That's a lower level of representation compared to other
professional fields, the study's authors found, even as the women
held their own in terms of fund performance. Twenty percent of law
firm partners are women, for instance, and 19 percent of partners in
U.S. accounting firms are women.
The figures are in sync in with other studies showing women holding
relatively few positions of power in finance.
Attendees at this year's Morningstar Investment Conference said the
findings were noteworthy because clients now expect to have more
women overseeing their money.
"As a portfolio manager, I get a very good reception from people out
there," said Dawn Mangerson, co-manager of the McDonnell
Intermediate Municipal Bond fund. It is co-managed with Jim Grabovac,
a lineup Mangerson said goes over well. "If there are both men and
women (involved) it's looked at favorably."
Clients also have more fund managers to choose from in general, and
so can be more discerning about qualities they like in a manager,
said Mary Jane McQuillen, a portfolio manager for Legg Mason Inc's
ClearBridge Investments unit.
The Morningstar study found firms with the highest percentage of
women fund managers included Dodge & Cox, where 6 of 24 fund
managers were women, and Franklin Templeton Investments, where 19 of
129 fund managers were women.
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In a keynote speech at the conference, Sallie Krawcheck, a former
wealth-management executive, said that while women control $11
trillion in wealth, many are unhappy with their financial adviser.
Firms could do more to include women among their leadership,
Krawcheck said, and she questioned an idea outlined in the
bestselling book by Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, "Lean In,"
which suggested women push harder to get ahead.
That's an easy message for companies to adopt rather than changing
their own cultures, Krawcheck said.
Taken to an extreme, Krawcheck said, "Lean In is shorthand for: 'you
women should really do something about this'."
(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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