My dear Friends,

… sorry, I am really bad at remembering any “international day of something”. So, herewith, my apologies, and please accept my belated and best wishes for a “Happy International Women’s Day”!!

Every year the world celebrates “International Women´s day” on the 8^th of March, and every year, I fail to comprehend why so many women are still facing considerable inequities.

At least it’s the one day every year when even the smallest news channel feels compelled to talk about society’s double standards when it comes to women—starting with women´s salaries, unpaid working hours and their disadvantageous economic situation in general.

We need to eliminate plenty of inequities, but foremost, inequities women investors still face.

8^th March- International Women´s Day

This year´s international women´s day motto was #Embrace Equity. The IWD 2023 campaign theme aims to get the world talking about why equal opportunities aren’t enough. 

People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action. 

International Women´s day.com

Who started it, and when?

On 28 February 1909, the then-active Socialist Party of America celebrated the first National Woman’s Day. Their intention: the commemoration of 15,000 women who protested in New York against harsh working conditions and lesser wages. 

The following year, Clara Zetkin-leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany-founded, International Women’s Day. The idea was to commemorate and honour women’s accomplishments, raise awareness about gender disparities and discrimination, as well as promote global support for women.

The early 20th century was a hard time for women. A time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

In 1911 more than one million women and men attended International Women´s Day rallies across Europe. Campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, hold public office and end discrimination. 

In 1914, women across Europe rallied to campaign against the war and express women’s solidarity.

In 1917, Russian women began a strike for “Bread and Peace” in response to the death of over 2 million Russian soldiers in World War 1. Opposed by political leaders, the women continued to strike until four days later, the Czar was forced to abdicate, and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.

In 1977, The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on the 8th of March.

Women´s footprint in history

Throughout history, women continuously made extraordinary contributions to their societies without ever being mentioned. We owe it to these trailblazers that today women in 140 countries guarantee gender equality in their constitutions.

Belgium and France clearly head the gender parity list, and other European countries follow closely.

Great Britain, the US and Japan hold places 15, 16 and 17 respectively. At the bottom end are Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, and Qatar and Yemen come in last.

Healthcare

Agnodice could be called the first female Gynecologist. In 400 BCE, Agnidice practised medicine despite facing the death penalty for doing so. She was eventually caught but vindicated and allowed to continue when patients came to her defence.

The 2023 reality is that women die and receive the wrong treatment or the wrong dosage of medication because most clinical studies are done on white men. Despite medical advances, more than 800 women still die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy or childbirth—99% in developing countries.

Education

Sor Joana Ines de la Cruz, a nun and writer, was severely criticized for studying secular texts. In 1691 she defended women’s right to education by proclaiming, ” one can perfectly well philosophize while cooking supper“.

Reality is even in 2023, and despite substantial progress in gender parity at all levels of education, disparities remain. There is still a 70:100 ratio between girls and boys opting for higher education, mainly in developing countries.

Poverty

Ahead of her time, Anna Filosofova believed educating and training the poor was better than providing cash benefits. In 1860 she co-founded a society to provide support for the poor. Apart from providing affordable housing, a focus was on helping women have decent salaries.

Even in 2023, poverty is one of women’s greatest challenges. The reasons are diverse. Ranging from unequal pay, the choice of jobs and a frequently disrupted career due to family care duties.

Only 14 nations offer full equal pay for men and women, at least from a legal perspective.

Whatever the law, women from all walks of life and professions still earn, on average, 24% less than men.

Voting rights and political careers

Kate Sheppard, Emmeline Pankhurst, and Mary Church-Terrell, to name just a few, fought for women´s right to vote. New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1893. Switzerland(1972), Lichtenstein (1984) and Saudi Arabia(2015) are some of the last countries to grant women the right to vote.

In other countries like Vatican City, Kuwait or Afghanistan, women either have no right to vote at all or were given the right to vote only to have it taken back again.

As of 1 January 2023, there are 31 countries where 34 women serve as Heads of State and/or Government. Only 26.5 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses are women. Globally, there are 22 States in which women account for less than 10 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses, including one lower chamber with no women at all. At the current rate of progress, gender parity in national legislative bodies will not be achieved before 2063.

The news and reporters

The Japanese editor, writer and political activist Raicho Hiratsuka co-founded the first all-women-run literary Journal, SEITO, in 1911. She was on a quest to challenge women´s traditional role at home.

Still, women are severely underrepresented in the media industry. Only about 1 in 4 journalists heard or read about are women. Women hold only 27% of top management positions in media organizations.

Science

In 1951 Rosalind Franklin, a British Chemist, paved the way for the discovery of DNA´s double helix structure through the revolutionary use of X-ray diffraction.

However, still today, women comprise only 30% of research in natural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, social sciences and humanities.

other facts

• In more than 60 countries, women are denied the right to acquire, change or retain their nationality, including conferring nationality to non-national spouses.
• Only 20% of agricultural land is in the ownership of women. Gender differences in access to land and credit limit the opportunities for women farmers and sustainable development.
• More than 700 million women alive today were married before the age of 18 another 250 million were married before the age of 15.

Inequities women investors face

A Morningstar study found that “there are more funds run by men named David than female fund managers in total”. It seems the financial industry suffers from a “Mathilda-Problem”, especially in management positions.

Now, what does that mean? Magret Rossiter, a science historian, stated 30 years ago that history largely ignored women´s abilities. She claimed this to be a systemic issue and named this phenomenon after Mathilda Joslyn Gage, a US equal rights activist.

“Women” are not a homogenous group, different categories of people have different experiences, and their reason for not investing is equally diverse.

“all inequality is not created equal.” 

Kimberlé Crenshaw, US Law Professor

Lower earnings are surely one problem, but considering that more and more women belong to the HNWI segment, there must be other reasons.

Therefore, looking at the current state of financial inequality isn’t enough to change attitudes. We also need to recognize the historical context of the issue. Decades of systemic discrimination have created deep inequities that beginners disadvantage some people in society, extending across generations.

This is especially important when we’re talking about money, as we know that women have historically been excluded from earning, saving and managing it – especially women and girls of colour.

Many experts, quite rightly, point to factors such as how women are perceived and treated by the investment community.

Nuanced reasons

A BNY Mellon study found the investing disparity is considerable. If women invested at the same rate as men, there would be at least an additional $3.22 trillion in assets under management from private individuals. In fact, only 32% of women would proactively invest in stocks, bonds, funds etc. however, 60% would keep their money in a savings account.

As a result, women, who live longer than men, are more likely to run short of money in old age.

Certainly, the other side of the coin is the women themselves. 1 in 10 women feel they don’t fully understand investing, and only about 28% feel confident about investing some of their money.

Others are afraid because they think investing money in the stock market, through individual security or a fund, is too risky.

But women also face a number of barriers when it comes to investing. One is that the investment industry isn’t engaging women to the same degree as men. A survey found 86% of asset managers said they are targeting a male customer, the survey found.

The problem is male bias. Most senior advisors or managers in the financial industry are male. Only around 35% are female!

However, there are other hurdles as well. Like, the high hurdle of the disposable assets women thinks they need to have before they can invest. On top of that, more than a quarter of women surveyed described their financial health as bad.

“There needs to be a focus on why the industry still struggles to retain and promote its talented female professionals,”

Hephzi Pemberton, CEO Equality Group

What the industry can do

More women are coming into wealth, whether it is through founding businesses, climbing the corporate ladder or an inheritance.

Male advisors also need to understand that their own income and economic success can be hurt if they effectively ignore women.

Female managers

60% of women believe that men still dominate investing. Therefore, a more inclusive financial community needs to be built to get more women invested. As a start, the investment industry could attract more female fund managers if they had more women investors.

Value Investing

A global survey found more than half of women would invest or invest more if the impact of their investment aligned with their personal values. They would also invest if the investment fund had a clear goal or purpose for good.

BNY Mellon calculated that of the $3.22 trillion that would enter the market if women invested at the same rate as men, $1.87 trillion would flow into impact investments benefiting people and the environment.

Jargon

Then there is the financial jargon that professionals tend to use. Some 31% of female consumers in the BNY Mellon survey said that overly complicated language, which can be unclear or confusing, dissuades them from investing or investing more than they currently do. Women need to understand that the finance industry uses this “black magic” to prove competence and demonstrate sole authority. That´s all!

The truth is the coded language describes really simple things in very complex ways. Like asymmetrical risk/reward, risk-adjusted returns, and alpha generation. Or relative outperformance, tracking error, dispersion, and downside protection.

This is really not helpful and can put off people that don’t understand it.

Value over Yield

Women prioritise value for money when handpicking investments. Low management fees and/or expense ratios are one of the top priorities for women when handpicking investments.

Women are primarily looking to stretch each euro/dollar/peso/rupee etc., they invest. 42% of surveyed women report that finding good value for their money—such as low commission fees or attractive interest rates—is the most important aspect of their investment choices. Men, on the other hand, overwhelmingly prioritize long-term yields.

The good news

Investing helps women grow wealth and support projects they believe in. But the gender wage gap and other barriers often put women at an investing disadvantage compared to their male counterparts.

While women do not currently invest at comparable rates to men, there are reasons to be optimistic that the landscape is changing. An N26 study found that nearly 2 of 3 want to invest more in Europe.

The most important news, however, is women regularly outperform men when investing.

The reason is that regarding their key motivations for investing, women seem to favour long-term stability over risky short-term investments. 43% of surveyed women rank financial security and long-term wealth as their top priorities. Conversely, just 23% say that growing their money quickly is a primary objective.

Top Motivation

• Building financial security for the family (45%)
• Growing money long-term (42%)
• Saving for retirement (39,5%)
• Hedging against inflation (22%)
• Supporting a cause, they believe in (13,4%)
• Bolstering status within the peer group (9,5%)
• Participating in a peer conversation (9%)

Confidence and intelligence

Overall, less than half of all women who invest (48%) consider themselves knowledgeable about investing—compared to 59% of men. Non-investing women also indicate that lack of knowledge is a blocker, ranking it as the second most common reason why they don’t invest. Possible causes for this include a lack of access to educational resources and underrepresentation in the investment community at large.

So, what might motivate women to invest more? 

It might still take generations to close all gender gaps, but women can take charge of closing the wealth gap by investing more.

Ultimately, it is important for women to be able to walk away from situations that are hurting or not serving them – whether that’s a bad job or a bad relationship.

Women need their own financial power to make decisions that enable them to care for themselves.

Round-Up

Since 1977 we have celebrated International Women´s Day on the 8th of March. The IWD 2023 campaign theme aims to get the world talking about why equal opportunities aren’t enough-#EqualEquity.

Throughout history continuously made extraordinary contributions to their societies without ever being mentioned.

Only 14 nations offer full equal pay for men and women, at least from a legal perspective.

There are more funds run by men named David than there are female fund managers in total. The financial industry clearly has a “Mathilda-Problem”, especially in management positions.

“Women” are not a homogenous group, different categories of people have different experiences, and their reason for not investing is equally diverse.

We also need to recognize the historical context of the issue. Decades of systemic discrimination have created deep inequities that disadvantage some people in society from the beginning, extending across generations.

Many experts, quite rightly, point to factors such as how women are perceived and treated by the investment community.

Both sides – the financial industry, as much as the “women” need to drop their biases and shift their respective mindsets to break down the inequities women investors still face. More women investors will ultimately benefit both sides.

Sources: Guardian; IWD Organization; narratives.digital; United Nations; World Economic Forum; UNESCO, OECD; World Bank;N26; Business Insider; Forbes; BNY Mellon; Financial Times India; Economist; Finacial Times, London; BBC Business; NY Times; UBS Private Banking; Manager Magazine; Bloomberg; Wallstreet Journal; Investopedia; Harpers Bazaar Arabia, Euronews.com