The gaps against women in different fields are some of the most important challenges we face as a society.

They earn less than men for the same work, they cannot move up in the organizational structure as much as men (glass ceiling), and they have to bear a greater burden of household chores.

Despite all these obstacles, every day they achieve more and more spaces of power by demonstrating their skills and resilience.

This has a major impact on the economy and is therefore not an easy road. According to an article in the World Economic Forum (WEF), “worryingly, women do not create wealth at the same rates as men. (...) Women receive 26% less income from the pension system than men. Critically important for many women around the world is improving their inclusion in financial markets as investors and closing this gender investing gap”. This situation is generated by all those gaps that work against them.

In fact, there is one special aspect of the financial markets that is not surprising, but needs to be explained: women have consistently outperformed men. And that's in hard cash.

At least, this is the conclusion of several papers and studies that show how women make better decisions when it comes to deciding the best place to put their money. Not only their money but also that of others, managing large investment funds.

The Motley Fool, a website specializing in investment advisory services, summarized some of the findings: “Women outperformed men by 0.4% in a 2021 analysis of 5 million Fidelity customers over a 10-year period. A University of California, Berkeley study conducted in the 1990s found an even larger performance difference of nearly 1%. A Wells Fargo study covering December 2012 to 2022 provides more evidence that women do better than men at investing. It reported that women achieved higher returns while taking on less risk than men.”

This is the aspect that deserves an explanation because it is not clear what makes the difference. Here we have a lot of surprising data.

• First: women go to the casino less. When making investment decisions, women look at the medium and long term and do not change their minds because of a sudden change in the value of financial assets. Men bet on short-term results, where large returns are possible, but not so sure. The long-term view is the strongest aspect of women's investment style.
• Derived from the above, women are more calculating. They think twice before making a decision. Men behave irrationally most of the time.
• Women ask more questions about the status of an investment. They prefer to gather more information. For men, one or two questions are enough to invest.
• Women are more organized and keep in mind to be clear about everything related to their accounts. This allows them to have a clear picture of when an investment matures, if it is convenient to renew or change it, etc.

All these skills explain why women can achieve better financial results than men. Society has a long way to go and it is necessary to define new rules that will allow women to achieve greater participation in the financial market. According to the WEF, “We need to ask: What role do women play as investors and how can their participation be further encouraged and supported? Answering this question could unlock a $700 billion revenue opportunity for firms that effectively serve women clients.”

It is a topic with a lot of value.

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