How to correct the gender imbalance in asset management

Marks’ own route to asset management did not involve as many established pathways and processes. Graduating from business school she got her “starter job” in a back office which she quickly worked to escape. She was interested in finance and enrolled in the CFA program. It was there that her interest in investment research was awakened. She took a job in equity trading, doing equity research on the side of her desk. One of the portfolio managers on that team took her under his wing and encouraged her and she eventually worked her way into a portfolio management role taking on a Canadian small and mid-cap fund.

While the path that she took was not clearly laid out before her at business school, Marks notes that in the work of portfolio management she was able to gain some shelter from the implicit bias that can often stymie the careers of women across industries. Portfolio management involves objective daily management of performance. The numbers don’t lie. Subjective judgement around performance was largely taken off the table.

What Marks thinks keeps women away from these roles is a lack of earlier exposure. She notes that at universities and high schools many of the first places someone can gain exposure to the technical skills of asset management are male-dominated. Investment and finance clubs, for example, are part of the early streams that bring people into asset management. Those clubs are often male oriented and women can feel intimidated to join them. She thinks that by broadening the criteria for those entry level roles, the industry can help young women overcome some of those early barriers.

Mackenzie has already done some of that work on the asset management side, echoing some of the greater success the industry has had with encouraging women to become financial advisors. She says they spend a disproportionate amount of time working at and engaging with university students. They encourage women to apply for roles they might not have otherwise considered at that educational stage because the population mix is more gender balanced.

When they recruit for more experienced and senior roles, Marks notes that the applicant base may only be 10 per cent female. Business schools, however, are more than 50 per cent female. By focusing on that stage of the career path, firms like Mackenzie can build a pipeline of female talent able to come up through the industry.