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Closing the Gender Gap in Investment Management

Gabelli100 | Apr 12, 2021 |

While women comprise roughly just 25 percent of the workforce in notoriously male-dominated fields like law and accounting, in the investment management arena, female portfolio managers represent a staggering 10 percent.

The need for greater diversity in the field was the topic of a Gabelli School Virtual Centennial Speaker Series webinar sponsored by the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis. Ellen Carr and Katrina Dudley, portfolio managers and authors of the book Undiversified: The Big Gender Short in Investment Management, and Dan Hanson, chief investment officer at Waddell & Reed Financial, agreed that increasing the number of women in “one of the least trusted industries in America” could revitalize the field.

For young women looking to enter finance, the speakers stressed the importance of having confidence and a sharp skill set, and being unafraid to network to get in the door. They also expressed optimism that there is plenty of room in the field for everyone to succeed.

“We don’t want people to see that there’s only one seat at the table and that women need to scramble and kind of step on each other for that one seat,” Dudley said. “There are multiple seats at the table. And quite honestly, we need to make the table bigger in order to accommodate those multiple seats.”

 

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