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Volume 2: A Question of Gender
In co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit
Barclays Wealth Insights
At Barclays Wealth we constantly seek to understand our clients’ evolving needs and aspirations. In partnership with the Economist
Intelligence Unit, we are encouraging industry debate on how to meet our clients’ changing circumstances and desires.
Our first report, The Future of Wealth 2006-2016, emphasised the unprecedented levels of growth in global wealth. A Question of
Gender, the second chapter in our Barclays Wealth Insights series, endeavours to bring greater understanding and scholarship to
what being wealthy means in the 21st century.
As this latest Insights report reveals, women are wielding greater economic power than ever before, indisputably contributing to the
wealth explosion. This trend raises several questions: how do women approach their financial and wealth management? How does
this compare with the attitudes of men? Is their appetite for risk likely to be higher or lower? Do they invest differently, and do they
save more than men? Are they more or less likely to seek advice on their finances?
A Question of Gender explores these and other differences in attitudes to wealth creation between women and men.
Questions about gender touch the very heart of Barclays Wealth’s culture. As an organisation we are committed to the pursuit of
diversity, since we believe that only a diverse workforce can bring the levels of creativity and productivity that is required to serve our
clients. Attracting, developing and motivating diverse talent is a core priority for us.
We hope that you find this second report in our series of interest. We believe it provides cause for deeper thought and reflection on
some of the issues facing women and the wealth management industry.
Thomas L. Kalaris
Chief Executive
Barclays Wealth
Foreword
1
Barclays Wealth is the UK's leading wealth manager and has £93bn (US$184bn) client assets globally. It serves affluent, high net
worth and intermediary clients worldwide, providing international and private banking, financial planning, investment services and
brokerage. Thomas L. Kalaris is the Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth and he joined the business at the start of 2006.
Barclays Wealth is part of the Barclays Group, a UK-based financial services group, with a large international presence in
Europe, Middle East, the USA, Africa and Asia. Barclays has been operating for more than 300 years with 25 million customers
and 122,600 employees in over 50 countries.
About Barclays Wealth
Barclays Wealth is the wealth management division of Barclays and operates through
Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiaries. Barclays Bank PLC is registered in England
and authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered number
is 1026167 and its registered office is 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.
© Barclays Wealth 2007. All rights reserved.
For information or permission to reprint, please contact Barclays Wealth at: Barclays
Wealth Insights, Barclays Wealth, 1 Churchill Place, London, UK, E14 5HP
+44 (0)800 851 851 or visit www.barclayswealth.com
Affluence of women
is increasing • ‘Women’ and ‘wealth’ are two words being heard together
more frequently, and the commercial world is sitting up and
taking notice of women’s growing spending power. Globally
women are becoming an economic force with which to be
reckoned. See page 4
The ‘Glass Ceiling’ persists • While the US and UK lead on the number of management
positions held by women, the ‘glass ceiling’ persists and an
equal number of women to men on company boards and in
government is predicted to still be some way off. See page 6
Business as a driver
of wealth • The perception of wealth gained via inheritance or marriage is
becoming outdated, but as women become more independent
and increasingly common in the world of business, what price
does their success have on family and lifestyle? See page 8
Education is the
cornerstone• While men and women have broadly similar views about the
key determinants of their wealth, in particular around education,
a significant difference between the genders is that women are
more likely to cite a strong family background as being
influential. See page 10
Women as wise investors• Motivations to amass and protect wealth are neatly divided
between spending on the present and saving for the future.
Financial security in retirement is the main goal, followed by
a better personal lifestyle and enjoyment of the finer things
in life. See page 10
An appetite for risk• Women have a more cautious approach to risk, proving
themselves to be ‘purpose driven’ investors, less focused on
income and growth. Women want to know more about and
understand an investment proposition, and financial services
providers are paying considerable attention to making their
offer more female-focused. Experts claim that by applying this
same energy, other industries will be better-placed to tap into
this fast-growing market. See page 11
Better knowledge…
or over confidence?• Overall, the majority of men make the financial decisions in a
marriage or partnership, but this is changing for the younger
generations as the Internet, newspapers and specialist
publications play an increasing role in helping women become
better informed about personal finance. See page 13
Enjoyment of wealth• Travel, eating out and cultural events are the most popular ways
of enjoying wealth for both men and women. See page 15
Dr Ros Altmann, Governor of the London School of Economics
Gerard Aquilina, Head of Barclays International Private Bank
Sika Giunta, Chief Executive Officer of US software company, Managed Objects
Dr Rebecca Harding, Senior Fellow in the Foundation for Entrepreneurial Management at the London Business School, and
Director of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Gem UK)
Emma Harrison, Chairman and Founder of A4E, one of the largest UK suppliers of services to the public, private and
voluntary/community sector
Mark Kibblewhite, Managing Director and Head of Barclays Wealth UK Private Banking
Kalpana Morparia, joint Managing Director of ICICI Bank
Amy Nauiokas, Managing Director and Head of Brokerage, Barclays Wealth
Holly Sargent, Senior Associate Dean for Advancement and Senior Director for University Women’s Studies at Harvard University
Promilla Sehgal, Entrepreneur and Founder of Visage Imports
Alison Steed, contributing author of the report and a freelance journalist, who writes for Wealth Briefing,
the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph
Perween Warsi, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, S&A Foods
2 3
Our Insights Panel Headline findings
of the report include:
54
The commercial world is starting to sit
up and take notice of women’s growing
spending power, and is now redoubling
its efforts to tap into this money-
spinning market
A recent study from Datamonitor, an independent research
company, finds that the gap between the wealth held by male
and female millionaires is narrowing. In 1998, the average male
millionaire in the UK was worth £2.71m (US$5.42m), while the
average female millionaire owned just £1.28m (US$2.56m). By
2006, women had caught up considerably, with the average
female millionaire worth £1.97m (US$3.94m) compared with
£2.96m (US$5.92m) for men.
This increase in female wealth has not been limited to developed
economies. In 2006, the female paper tycoon Zhang Yin was
listed by the Hurun Report as the wealthiest person in China, with
an estimated US$3.4bn. Even in Saudi Arabia, a country in which
women can neither vote nor drive a car, women are making their
presence felt in the higher reaches of business. In 2005, Nahed
Taher became the first Saudi woman to head a large investment
bank when she founded the Gulf One Investment Bank in Bahrain.
More generally, it is clear that women around the world are
becoming an economic force with which to be reckoned. Since
the 1950s, the proportion of the female workforce in Sweden,
the UK and the US has risen from one-third to two-thirds. In
South-east Asia, a region that has in recent years enjoyed
impressive economic growth, women hold two-thirds of jobs in
the export industry. Perhaps most strikingly of all, a recent
report in The Economist suggested that, over the past decade,
the increased employment of women in developed countries has
contributed much more to global growth than China.
The combined wealth of Britain’s 100
richest women in 2007 is £33.27bn
The flip side of wealth creation is spending, and women’s
spending habits are being watched more closely than ever by
companies that are keen to tap into this rich vein of opportunity.
With some studies suggesting that as much as 80 per cent of all
purchasing decisions are made by women, the importance of
developing products and services that meet their needs,
combined with clear and effective marketing, cannot be
overstated. This has been recognised for a number of years by
luxury brands, and even by the traditional male bastions of cars
and gadgets. Other industries, such as financial services, have
been slower to catch onto this trend, but as women increasingly
flex their muscles in the global economy, this is a trend that can
only accelerate across the entire business world.
Introduction“Women” and “wealth” are two words that are being heard together
more frequently as the number of high net worth females in the world
continues to rise. From luxury goods manufacturers to private banks,
the commercial world is starting to sit up and take notice of women’s
growing spending power, and is now redoubling its efforts to tap into
this money-spinning market.
The affluence of women is increasing in no uncertain terms,
with the number of female entrepreneurs and senior company
executives burgeoning in the UK and abroad. Some 30 years
ago, it would have been rare to find women owning their own
businesses, or even being members of the board in large
corporations. Now, there are 92 women on the Sunday Times
Rich List, a club that requires wealth of at least £70m (US$138m)
to join. The combined wealth of Britain’s 100 richest women in
2007 is £33.27bn (US$66bn), and data from the Centre for
Economics and Business Research suggests that, by 2020,
53 per cent of millionaires in the UK will be female.
The lack of senior female directors is bewildering for many
commentators, not least because studies have shown that
companies with more women at the top tend to perform better
than those with fewer. For example, a study by research
organisation Catalyst found that companies with the highest
female representation on their senior management teams
enjoyed a 34 per cent higher return on equity than those with
the lowest representation.
Numerous reasons have been put forward to explain this
phenomenon, but a common thread seems to be that a
diversity of opinions on management boards is likely to lead to
more rigorous analysis of problems and therefore improved
decision-making. It may also be because women tend to be
stronger than men in areas such as leadership and collaboration,
which are regularly cited as vital for business success.
Companies today face more pressure than ever to increase
female representation at the highest management levels. As
well as evidence that points to stronger performance among
companies with female directors, a more rigorous corporate
governance requirement in the wake of the Enron scandal has
encouraged boards to dismantle the “clubbiness” of the
boardroom and look further afield for new talent. Over time, it is
hoped that these trends will accelerate the promotion of women
to senior management teams, so that one day we may see 50
female chief executives in the FTSE 100, instead of just one.
76
The
“GlassCeiling”
Over the past few decades, the number of women who hold elevated
positions in business and government has steadily increased.
According to data from the OECD, which combines Labour Force
surveys of a sample of private households undertaken separately
by European Union member countries, with data from the US
Current Population Survey, around four per cent of female
employees now hold managerial positions in business in OECD
countries, compared with 7.1 per cent of men. In the US, the
figure for women rises to 12.1 per cent, compared with 15.6 per
cent of male employees (see Table 1).
At the highest levels of business, women have gradually become
better represented. There are 117 female directors of FTSE 100
companies, and 77 per cent of those companies have at least
one woman on their board. In the US, 89 per cent of companies
on the S&P500 have at least one woman on their board, and 64
per cent have more than one, according to a report by Spencer
Stuart, the recruitment firm.
But despite the considerable advances made by women in
business, the much-discussed “glass ceiling” persists in many
countries and industries. Only 10.35 per cent of all directorships on
FTSE 100 companies are held by women, compared with 16 per
cent on the S&P500. According to the annual Sex and Power Index
compiled by the UK’s Equal Opportunities Commission, it will take
another 60 years to achieve an equal number of female directors of
FTSE 100 companies, and up to 200 years to achieve an equal
number of women in Parliament.
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2
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4
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7
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11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
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Sources: OECD, European Labour Force surveys and US Current Population Survey
Table 1: Percentages of employees in managerial posts
2004 or latest year available
Directors & Managers
AsiaNorth
EuropeMiddle East
America & Africa
As well as climbing the corporate ladder with greater ease,
women are also becoming increasingly common in the world of
entrepreneurship. Holly Sargent, Senior Associate Dean for
Advancement and Senior Director for University Women’s
Studies at Harvard University, points out that when women do
start a business, it often does not have the sole purpose of
generating wealth. More often than not, there will be a social
element to their entrepreneurship, which is often as important,
if not more so, as their need and willingness to create wealth.
Dr Harding agrees, and notes that women at home who have time
and resources behind them are likely to go into the labour market
by being entrepreneurial. “Their businesses are more likely to be
family orientated, less commercial, and more socially, or ‘gap in the
market’ based,” she explains. “A lot of innovative products are
created around female-orientated gaps in the market.”
98
Drivers and goalsof wealth“Younger women are becoming more independent and going
through the career profile more swiftly”
Source: EIU/Barclays Wealth
Table 2: Sources of personal wealth cited by women
Which of the following have been most important to you as sources of your personal wealth? Select up to three responses
Income from sale of property 9.8 % 16.7 % 8.9 % 0.0 %
Inheritance 26.8 % 22.2 % 15.2 % 25.9 %
Income from job 53.7 % 75.0 % 64.6 % 63.0 %
Income from investments 34.1 % 38.9 % 24.1 % 44.4 %
Income from property rental 12.2 % 11.1 % 8.9 % 11.1 %
Rich benefactor 4.9 % 0.0 % 8.9 % 3.7 %
Income from a business 26.8 % 16.7 % 19.0 % 18.5 %
Sale of a business 9.8 % 11.1 % 7.6 % 14.8 %
Pension 14.6 % 11.1 % 12.7 % 3.7 %
Other 0.0 % 0.0 % 2.5 % 0.0 %
Marriage 24.4 % 19.4 % 27.8 % 29.6 %
Gambling/lottery win 2.4 % 2.8 % 7.6 % 7.4 %
Divorce settlement 2.4 % 5.6 % 0.0 % 3.7 %
The traditional sources of wealth for women have been
inheritance from their parents or deceased husbands, or
financial gain from the divorce of a wealthy husband. While
these methods of achieving wealth status are still evident, a
recent global survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence
Unit on behalf of Barclays Wealth of 600 affluent, high net
worth and ultra high net worth individuals indicates that this
perception is becoming outdated.
The vast majority of those surveyed – both men and women –
have earned their money through their job or the ownership of a
business, although in both cases, the proportions are slightly
higher among men. Less than one-fifth of women, and just over
one-sixth of men, have generated significant wealth from an
inheritance. Meanwhile, marriage is a significant source of
wealth for around one-quarter of women, compared with just
one in 10 men. Looking in greater detail at the research, one
finds notable differences between the regions. For example, the
proportion of women who say that marriage is a significant
source of wealth is highest in the Middle East and Africa, at 30
per cent, and is lowest in North America, at 19 per cent.
Dr Rebecca Harding, Senior Fellow in the Foundation for
Entrepreneurial Management at the London Business School,
and Director of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Gem UK),
corroborates this general shift in sources of female wealth. “A lot
of the female wealth is still coming from divorce,” she says, “but
younger women are becoming more independent and going
through the career profile more swiftly.”
As women generate more of their own wealth from income and
investments, an unfortunate side effect is that we may see
divorce levels increasing. Recent research by Randall Kesselring,
Professor of Economics at Arkansas University, in which the
finances of more than 100,000 women were examined, found
that, with every US$20,000 that a woman’s wealth increased
relative to the family’s overall income, the chances of marital
break-up rose by one per cent.
High appetite for risk 8 6
So given this shift in the likely sources of female wealth, what
are perceived to be the most important factors that influence
wealth accumulation? Men and women have broadly similar
views about the key determinants of their wealth, and they tend
to be grouped around education (in particular, university or
college), determination, and being allowed to live independently
at a young age. The only significant difference between the
genders is that women are more likely to cite a strong family
background as being influential. Both genders see propensity for
wealth as being a nurture, rather than nature issue, with very
few respondents considering that an innate talent for wealth
generation is an important factor.
Comparing the regions, we find that women around the world
have slightly differing views as to the key factors that influence
wealth generation. While education is perceived universally as
being the single most important influence, the family is seen as
a more dominant influence in the Middle East and Africa than in
other regions. Respondents from those regions are more likely
than those from elsewhere to cite strong family ties, a wealthy
family background and the influence of an individual family
member as being important factors that have helped them
accumulate wealth.
Spend and save are
the main goalsMotivations for amassing and protecting wealth are almost
identical for men and women. Financial security in retirement is
seen as the main priority, followed by a better personal lifestyle
and enjoyment of the finer things in life. In other words, the
goals appear to be neatly divided between spending on the
present and saving for the future. More intangible factors, such
as status and the sheer enjoyment of making money, come
much further down the list. The only substantial difference
between the sexes is that men are more likely to see financial
security of children as a priority. There is, however, an
interesting difference between women in different regions:
those in the Middle East and Africa are more likely than those
elsewhere to consider financial security for children as a key
motivation, with 63 per cent seeing it as important. This is
further evidence of the strong family ties that the survey
suggests are characteristic of the region.
The emotional
impact of wealthIt is often said that money cannot buy you happiness, but the
results of the survey suggest that this old cliché may be somewhat
wide of the mark. The women questioned who hold assets in
excess of $1m were more likely than those with assets below that
threshold to think that increased wealth had brought them more
leisure time, more time with their family, better health and, yes,
increased levels of happiness. Women below the $1m mark could
console themselves that they generally had greater levels of job
satisfaction but, on the minus side, they suffered from similar
levels of stress to those with greater wealth.
Perceptions of the benefits of wealth also vary considerably
between the regions. In general, respondents from Asia appear to
have been able to enjoy more leisure time and time with their
families as a result of their wealth. Conversely, respondents from
North America are least likely to consider that greater wealth has
given them more time with their families, and are second least
likely (after the Middle East and Africa) to consider that it has
given them more leisure time. Despite these constraints on their
time, they are however most likely to think that greater wealth
has enhanced their levels of personal happiness.
Women and
personal financeMany experts contend that women are far less likely to take risks
with their money, whether in their personal finance or business
affairs. This perception is borne out by the research, which finds
that, in the past three years, more men than women have
invested in vehicles that are generally considered to be at the
riskier end of the financial spectrum, such as hedge funds,
private equity, structured products and derivatives. Men are also
more likely to have invested in stocks and shares.
1110
Education is the cornerstone
Table 3: Factors that have influenced wealth
(rankings in order of importance)
How influential do you think the following factors have been in helping
you achieve the wealth you now hold?
Women Men
University Education 1 1
School Education 2 3
Determination 3 2
Strong family ties 4 9
Understanding of money from early age 5 5
Independence from an early age 6 4
Peer group 7 7
Wealthy family background 9 11
Support from individual family member 10 10
Innate talent for wealth generation 11 8
Modest family background 12 12
Source: EIU/Barclays Wealth
Table 4: Motivations to amass and protect wealth
(rankings in order of importance)
What are the main motivations for you to amass and protect
your wealth?
Women Men
Financial security in retirement 1 1
Better personal lifestyle 2 2
Enjoyment of the finer things in life 3 3
Ability to travel extensively 4 4=
Ability to retire early 5 6
Ability to afford a large property 6 7
Financial security for children 7 4=
Ability to help others (e.g. philanthropy) 8 8
Private education for children 9 9
Status 10 11
Enjoyment of making money 11 10
Ability to afford more than one property 12 12
Source: EIU/Barclays Wealth
Table 5: Wealth and lifestyle (comparison of attitudes of mass affluent
and high net worth women)
What impact has increased personal wealth had on the following
areas of your life?
Women with Womenassets with assets
under $1m over $1m
More leisure time 56% 70%
More time with family 41% 59%
More stress 55% 59%
Greater personal happiness 70% 80%
Better health 54% 64%
Better relationships with family 57% 53%
Job satisfaction 74% 63%
Source: EIU/Barclays Wealth
This observation may come down to the fact that women
generally want to know more about an investment proposition,
and fully understand it, before they are prepared to sign up.
Financial institutions will tell you that, in general, women want
more help in making their financial decisions than men, and
often the level of reassurance they need about the decisions
they are making is much higher.
“Women are much more clinical in their need to know what they
are going to get before they sign up for something,” says Dr Ros
Altmann, Governor of the London School of Economics. “Men have
more of a mindset that you have to just go out and get it, and you
can see their attitude towards risk taking in the games they play.”
“Women want more nurturing, coaching
and support, and a lot of that focuses on
the language of finance”
Aware of the different approaches and requirement of the genders,
private banks and other financial services providers are now paying
considerable attention towards making their products and services
more female-focused. But there is still a language barrier when it
comes to women and finance that is not going to change in the
foreseeable future. “Women want more nurturing, coaching and
support, and a lot of that focuses on the language of finance,” says
Dr Harding. By taking more time and using more energy to
understand the needs and considerations of women, businesses
will be able to tap into a fast-growing market far more effectively.
Better knowledge. . .
or over confidence?Male respondents to the survey profess a greater knowledge
than female respondents of every aspect of personal finance –
from tax and estate planning to stock markets and investing in
hedge funds. Almost across the board, the proportion of men
claiming good knowledge of financial products is around 10 per
cent higher than the proportion of women although, in reality,
this could simply be put down to over confidence rather than
any superior knowledge. The single notable exception is the
working of the stock market, where the knowledge gap extends
to around 20 per cent between men and women. The greater
extent of this difference suggests that this is one area where
men do have a genuine edge over women.
Looking at the differences between the regions, we find that
confidence levels among women are often highest in the Middle
East and Africa. Although the region has a relatively less
established investor culture, women there were most confident
about investing in funds and collective investments, and hedge
funds. They were also among the most confident in their
knowledge of investing in estate planning, retirement planning
and the capabilities of private banks.
Gerard Aquilina, Head of Barclays International Private Banking,
comments that in recent years he has witnessed women in the
Middle East occupying greater prominence in the world of finance.
“One of the trends I have observed is the considerable increase in
the numbers of female investment bankers, financial fund
managers and portfolio managers in the region” he explains. “This
is a trend which would not have been seen some years ago, and is
testament to the growing influence of women in business.”
Women from Europe, meanwhile, professed greatest
understanding of stocks and shares, with 38 per cent of women
saying they are confident in this area (North Americans were not
far behind, with 36 per cent saying they are confident here).
Women in Europe also seem to have a slight edge over those in
other regions in terms of their knowledge of the debt market,
with 34 per cent professing confidence in that area.
13
Amy Nauiokas, Managing Director and Head of Brokerage,
Barclays Wealth, says that this analysis fits with the typical
female customer profile. “Our female investors tend to be
between 45 and 65, and they tend to have a more cautious
approach to risk,” she says.
The survey suggests that women in North America have a
propensity to be most sophisticated in terms of the breadth of
their investments. The continent has the highest proportion of
women that invest in stocks and shares, bonds, property and
personal pensions. Women in the Middle East, however, are more
likely to invest in commodities, such as gold, and hedge funds,
than those in any other region. European women, meanwhile, are
most likely to invest in alternative assets, such as antiques and art.
The table above clearly shows that property is an important
investment vehicle for many women around the world. In North
America and Europe, property was second only to stocks and
shares as the preferred investment over the past three years,
and it also scored highly for women in Asia and the Middle East.
Large increases in property values since the 1990s have
encouraged many women to channel their funds into bricks and
mortar, and have also been significant in terms of wealth
creation. Income from property rental or the sale of property is
cited as an important source of wealth for 20 per cent of
women in our survey, and 31 per cent say that they plan to
invest in property over the next three years.
Furthermore, when asked how they would choose to spend a cash
windfall, 25 per cent of women cited investment or personal
purchase of property if they were to receive $2m.
However, women tend to place less importance than men on
their income from investments, and from property rental and
property sales. “I keep coming back to the fact that women tend
to have purpose-driven investing,” says Ms Nauiokas. “They will
alter their approach as they reach their goal and will often act to
protect what it is they have built up. Male investors tend to look
for income and growth.”
12
Source: EIU/Barclays Wealth
Table 6: Regional differences in investing (% of women who say they have invested)
In which of the following vehicles have you invested in the past three years?
AsiaNorth
EuropeMiddle East
America & Africa
Commodities (eg, gold) 9.8 % 19.4 % 15.2 % 33.3 %
Individual stocks and shares 65.9 % 69.4 % 65.8 % 48.1 %
Bonds 31.7 % 38.9 % 25.3 % 22.2 %
Gilts 14.6 % 5.6 % 10.1 % 14.8 %
Currency 19.5 % 13.9 % 10.1 % 18.5 %
Tracker funds 7.3 % 11.1 % 13.9 % 25.9 %
Hedge funds 12.2 % 8.3 % 12.7 % 18.5 %
Property 19.5 % 44.4 % 36.7 % 29.6 %
Personal pension 17.1 % 38.9 % 36.7 % 29.6 %
Private equity/co-investing 4.9 % 11.1 % 10.1 % 0.0 %
Investment trusts 17.1 % 22.2 % 20.3 % 22.2 %
Derivatives (futures, options, CFDs etc) 2.4 % 11.1 % 5.1 % 7.4 %
Alternative assets (fine wine, antiques, art etc) 2.4 % 8.3 % 16.5 % 3.7 %
Credit/leveraging 9.8 % 2.8 % 6.3 % 7.4 %
Structured Products 9.8 % 8.3 % 7.6 % 7.4 %
Travel is the most important leisure pursuit for both sexes,
closely followed by eating out and cultural events, such as going
to concerts, the theatre, or art galleries. But after that, the
choices for men and women diverge considerably. For example,
31 per cent of men like to take part in sport, compared to just 17
per cent of women. The latter, it seems, are busy shopping –
with 37 per cent enjoying retail therapy as a pastime, compared
with 12 per cent of men.
Looking at the regions, Asian women appear to be keener on
travel and shopping than their peers elsewhere in the world: 68
per cent said that they favoured travel in their leisure pursuits,
compared with 56 per cent of European women and 44 per cent
of women from Middle East and Africa; while 49 per cent of
Asian women favoured shopping, compared with just 25 per
cent in North America.
In terms of how they spend their money, both men and women
cite holidays and home improvements as their top priorities: 63
per cent of men and 59 per cent of women spent more than
$5,000 on holidays in the past year, while 46 per cent of men
and 45 per cent of women spent more than that amount on
home improvements. Clothes are another important
extravagance, although the proportion of women who spend
more than $5,000 annually is slightly higher than that of men.
Men, meanwhile, are more likely to spend in excess of $5,000 on
furniture, cars and gadgets.
In recent years, there has been a significant trend in the luxury
goods market towards marketing and advertising specifically to
target women. Jaguar Land Rover, for example, has worked hard
to shed its image as a brand that is targeted primarily at men.
To this end, it has created a women’s panel to advise on the
design of future cars, introduced policies to encourage more
women onto its workforce, and launched “Jaguar women”, a
new perfume. Notably, the company also has a female
managing director, Bibiana Boerio.
15
North American women appear to be most aware of the need
for diversification in their investments, with more respondents
than from any other region agreeing that they do not like
putting all their money into one account. Meanwhile, women in
Asia who were questioned for the survey tended not to rate
their knowledge of financial matters particularly highly and
generally lagged behind their peers in the other three regions.
“At one time clients had no access to
research, product innovations and pricing,
and to an extent they were completely
reliant on financial advisers to pick an
investment for them”
Despite, or perhaps because of, the greater knowledge they
claim in financial matters, men are more likely than women to
seek third-party advice on their finances. Independent financial
advisers are the first port of call, with 45 per cent of men and
38 per cent of women saying that they use this service. Men are
also more likely to consult tax specialists, accountants, private
banks, brokers and the media. The only source of advice that is
more widely used by women than men is the high-street bank.
Around the same proportion of men and women seek no advice
at all – about 15 per cent.
In terms of developing wider knowledge, both men and women
are turning to new media channels as a source of education and
information. Mr Aquilina points out that the growth of the
Internet has become an important source of financial
information of the kind that once would have been very difficult
to obtain. “At one time clients had no access to research,
product innovations and pricing, and to an extent they were
completely reliant on financial advisers to pick an investment for
them,” he explains. “Now they have access to various products
and investment ideas.”
The media also cannot be underestimated as a source of
education about trends in financial services. Mr Aquilina cites
as an example the daily coverage in broadsheet newspapers of
the latest purchase by private equity or hedge fund activity.
Because of this, the customer, whether male or female, is
becoming more educated, questioning and in turn, more
demanding, as this knowledge increases. According to Mr
Aquilina, new trends are emerging due to the intellectual
content of the dialogue between private bankers and their
clients, such as increased confidence in debt and interest in
alternative investments.
The majority of men in a marriage or partnership say that they
make the financial decisions – 65 per cent compared to 41 per
cent of women. Joint decisions are made in just under one-
quarter of relationships. “You do need to differentiate between
age groups,” says Dr Altmann. “In my experience, a lot of older
women tend to rely on their husbands to do the investing. Often
they have not taken the time to be financially aware, and they
can find they have really been left behind in a divorce. But
younger women are taking much more control of their finances,
and are looking after themselves better.”
Women are also passing on their financial knowledge to their
dependents, says Mr Aquilina, and are paying special attention
to educating females. “If you take as a given that you are
dealing with a paternalistic male world where financial decisions
are concerned, we note a higher propensity among parents in
Latin America and the Middle East, for example, to have their
daughters learn about financial management.”
14
Enjoyingwealth
We have established already from the research that women consider
a better lifestyle and the ability to enjoy the finer things in life as one
of their main motivations for wealth creation. So how do they spend
their leisure time and disposable income?
Furniture 23% 41%
Table 7: Proportions of men and women who spent more than $5000
in past year on the following categories of items
Women Men
Holidays 59% 63%
Home improvements 45% 46%
Clothes 43% 36%
Cars 39% 46%
Jewellery and watches 36% 26%
Gadgets 31% 38%
Art and antiques 24% 24%
Charitable donations 20% 23%
Fine wine 20% 19%
Jets, yachts, and helicopters 16% 14%
Source: EIU/Barclays Wealth
20%Women
19%Men
16%Women
14%Men
39%Women
46%Men
24%Women
24%Men
45%Women
46%Men
1716
59%Women
63%Men
So how do men and women
spend their leisure time and
disposable income?
19
The windfall dilemma There is a theory that people view their regular income in a
different way to a bonus, and do their own form of accounting in
the way that they are prepared to spend each type of income.
Mark Kibblewhite, Managing Director and Head of Barclays
Wealth UK Private Banking says there is a very clear mental
accountancy when choosing between investment and spending.
“When women are in the mindset that ‘this is for investment and
saving’ they are very diligent and plan well. But experience would
tell us that female clients make a very clear choice in their minds
and are absolutely more disciplined in allocating a figure for the
spending pot to enhance their lifestyle and enjoyment.”
It is instructive, therefore, to look at how men and women
would spend a windfall, and to see if there are any differences
between the two.
If they were to receive a windfall of $200,000, both sexes would
be more likely to invest the money, but the woman’s propensity
to avoid risk is apparent; with men more likely to put the money
into the stock market, and women more likely to bump up their
personal pension. If the windfall rose tenfold again to $2m,
investing the money would be by far the most popular option
for both sexes. Men would be most likely to invest in property or
a private company, whereas women would tend to prefer
property, or pension and savings products. The tendency for
men to choose investments such as the stock market or
investing in a private company bears out the finding in a
separate question where men said they were more likely than
women to choose a high-risk investment to improve returns.
“Women are far more risk aware,
frightened that things will go wrong, and
frightened of flying too close to the sun”
This appetite for risk is part of the reason why many men find it
easier to get investment for their companies than women.
“Women cannot always sell their business ideas to the male
investor,” says Dr Harding. “If you talk to people who provide
women with finance, they will say that women have a lower
expectation of how their business is going to grow, even when
they are very high powered. Women are far more risk aware,
frightened that things will go wrong, and frightened of flying too
close to the sun.”
Dr Harding adds that women will generally put proportionately
less of their own cash into a business venture than their male
equivalent, even when they are expecting to have a low
turnover. “The language of that to an investor is that they do
not believe in their product and they are not prepared to
dedicate everything to it,” she says.
“Women don’t necessarily look at things
through the same lens”
The financial services industry in general acknowledges that
men and women may have different needs, Mr Kibblewhite
points out. “At one stage you’re dealing with some of the most
successful entrepreneurial high earning individuals in the
country. The next minute it is someone who, completely
through circumstances, have had their world shattered through
a family change or bereavement - and they’re thrust into the
world of finance.”
For this reason, Mr Kibblewhite says that the industry needs to
work harder to recognise that women’s thought processes are
sometimes different. “Women don’t necessarily look at things
through the same lens as a male client, which is why we apply
the time to treat each client individually and work with them to
understand what they want to achieve, guaranteeing the right
balance between preserving wealth for themselves and
distributing that wealth to family members.”
18
When it comes to luxury services, men are more likely to use
personal trainers, chauffeurs, chefs, alternative health
practitioners, property search agencies, lawyers and private
bankers than women. However, women are more likely to use
what may be considered “lifestyle” services, such as personal
concierge and shopping services, life coaches, personal stylists,
bodyguards and private doctors.
Despite these patterns of spending, there are still relatively high
proportions of both men and women who say that they spend
nothing on many of these categories. For example, 30 per cent
of women and 21 per cent of men say that they have spent
nothing on home improvements in the past year, and 45 per
cent of men and 46 per cent of women say that they have not
purchased any art or antiques.
A surprisingly high proportion of men –
more than one-third – think that designer
clothes and other luxury goods are a
waste of money
A surprisingly high proportion of men – more than one-third –
think that designer clothes and other luxury goods are a waste
of money, a statistic which perhaps follows on from the male
disinterest in shopping. Just one-fifth of women agree with this
statement, but nonetheless, this is still a significant number.
Source: EIU/Barclays Wealth
Table 8: Source - women only
If you had a cash windfall of US$2m, and could only choose one thing to do with the money, which of the following would you choose?
AsiaNorth
EuropeMiddle East
America & Africa
Invest/save in savings products (deposit/savings accounts, bonds ISAs, etc) 17.1 % 17.1 % 5.2 % 14.8 %
Pay off debts 2.4 % 0.0 % 7.8 % 3.7 %
Invest in property (for investment, not personal use) 19.5 % 25.7 % 10.4 % 11.1 %
Invest in private company 2.4 % 2.9 % 11.7 % 11.1 %
Invest in stock market 2.4 % 17.1 % 10.4 % 14.8 %
Spend on travelling 0.0 % 2.9 % 7.8 % 7.4 %
Add to my pension 9.8 % 11.4 % 15.6 % 14.8 %
Put towards/spend on a new property for personal use 17.1 % 5.7 % 10.4 % 7.4 %
Put towards/spend on an aircraft/yacht/private jet 14.6 % 5.7 % 9.1 % 7.4 %
Spend on artwork 0.0 % 2.9 % 0.0 % 0.0 %
Give to other family members 4.9 % 5.7 % 5.2 % 0.0 %
Give to charity 2.4 % 0.0 % 1.3 % 0.0 %
Spend on designer clothes or jewellery 4.9 % 0.0 % 1.3 % 3.7 %
Spend on gadgets/new technology 0.0 % 2.9 % 2.6 % 0.0 %
Total 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 %
Spend on a car 2.4 % 0.0 % 1.3 % 3.7 %
21
One of the most constructive ways in which wealth can be
passed through the generations is by handing over the reins of a
family business. This is an experience that UK-based entrepreneur
Promilla Sehgal understands very well. In 2005, she sold her UK
business Visage Imports, which she had founded 24 years earlier,
to her son, daughter and son-in-law in a management buy-out for
£100m (US$198m). The company, which is based in South
Shields, UK, imports clothing and accessories from countries
including China, Bangladesh, India, Turkey and Hong Kong, and
today supplies many leading high-street retailers. Keeping the
business in the family was an important consideration for Ms
Sehgal. “I believe family businesses are all about keeping control,
and I was very keen for the business to be something that the
next generation could continue to build,” she says.
Charitable legacies and philanthropy have been much in the news
lately, thanks in no small part to last year’s $37bn donation by
Warren Buffett to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Respondents do not generally consider the ability to help others
via philanthropy as an important reason to amass and protect
their wealth, however they certainly see charitable giving as an
important by-product of their good financial fortune. Around 37
per cent of men and 39 per cent of women say that they expect
to leave 10 per cent or more of their estate to charitable causes,
while 23 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women say that they
gave more than $5,000 to charity in the past year.
Ms Sargent points out, however, that philanthropy is not
necessarily something that is gender-specific, and that it more
likely has to do with an individual’s life and experiences. “There
are some interesting changes in the way that women are
looking at how they can use their wealth to advance things they
care about,” she explains. “In the past 20 to 25 years, there has
been a huge increase in political donations from women. In the
US, there are organisations like Emily’s List, which has
capitalised on the increased understanding that if you are going
to have a voice in political dealings, then you are stepping up.
There is now a movement afoot for women to step up and be
willing to fund in a major way the cause for social justice.”
“There is now a movement afoot for
women to step up and be willing
to fund in a major way the cause
for social justice”
20
Perpetuation of wealthThe passing of wealth down the generations has been a rite of
passage for millennia. But while inheritance was always an important
source of wealth for our more fortunate ancestors, the rise of
entrepreneurship and the democratisation of wealth mean that it no
longer figures so prominently.
That said, there remains a fairly strong sense among our survey respondents that a financial legacy for dependents is important.
Around 60 per cent of both women and men say that they want to make sure that they have enough money to pass on to the next
generation, and we have already established that financial security for children is an important driver for wealth creation, especially
for men. Looking at the regions, the importance of passing on wealth is strongest in the Middle East, where 70 per cent of women
say that they want to make sure they are able to do this.
Financial security for children is an
important driver for wealth creation
2322
North America• In the US, 89 per cent of companies on the S&P500 have at
least one woman on their board, and 64 per cent have more
than one
• North American women are least likely to consider that greater
wealth has given them more time with their families
• They have a propensity to be most sophisticated in terms of
the breadth of their investments. North America has the
highest proportion of women that invest in stocks and shares,
bonds, property and personal pensions
• They appear to be most aware of the need for diversification in
their investments
• Income from a job was the most important source of wealth
for 75 per cent of North American women, more than any
other region
Europe• Data from the Centre for Economics and Business Research
suggest that, by 2020, 53 per cent of millionaires in the UK
will be female
• Since the 1950s, the proportion of the female workforce in
Sweden and the UK has risen from one-third to two-thirds
• European women are more likely than those from other regions
to invest in alternative assets, such as antiques and art
• European women professed greatest understanding of stocks and
shares, with 38 per cent saying they are confident in this area
Middle East & Africa• Confidence levels towards personal finance are highest in the
Middle East and Africa, despite a less established investor culture
• The proportion of women who say marriage is a significant
source of wealth is highest, at 30 per cent
• Women see the family as a more dominant influence on
wealth generation than in other regions
• They are most likely to consider financial security for children
as a key motivation - 63 per cent see it as important
• They are least likely to consider that wealth has given them
more leisure time
Asia• Women in Asia are more likely than those from elsewhere
to enjoy more leisure time, and time with their families as
a result of their wealth
• They do not rate their knowledge of financial matters
particularly highly, lagging behind their peers in the other
three regions
• They are keener on travel and shopping than their peers
elsewhere in the world - 68 per cent favoured travel and
49 per cent shopping
• Income from a business was a source of personal
wealth for 26 per cent of Asian women – more than
any other region
• South-east Asian women hold two-thirds of jobs in the
region’s export industry
Women aroundthe world
unemployed by the closure of the local steel works. Weeks later,
Ms Harrison’s father left for Germany, leaving her in charge of
the company. Within a year, the business was turning over £1m
(US$2m). When Ms Harrison’s father returned, they disagreed
over the future direction of the business, and Ms Harrison left
to found A4E.
In the 20 years that she has been in business, Ms Harrison has
detected a gradual improvement in the way in which female
entrepreneurs are perceived by the finance community and
other professions, such as law and accountancy. “Things are
moving in the right direction,” she says. “The banks have woken
up to the fact that there’s some good business to be had by
working with women. I think it’s just a commercial thing – the
banks, lawyers and accountants are all making money off
businesses that are run by women.”
With the groundwork being laid in terms of perceptions of female
entrepreneurs, an important question for many researchers is
how women’s aptitude for entrepreneurship compares with that
of men. Here, Ms Harrison feels that women may have a genuine
edge in that they tend to possess some of the same personality
traits that characterise successful entrepreneurs. “The good
entrepreneurs that you meet are very creative, and they’re
genuinely very empathic and honest. They’ve also learned how
to get on with others and make genuine friendships, which I
would say are more feminine characteristics.”
Although the businesses being set up by women naturally span
the full commercial spectrum, academics and commentators
have noted that, in common with Ms Harrison’s A4E, female
entrepreneurship tends to gravitate towards enterprises that
have a social aspect. Research by the London Business School’s
Social Entrepreneurship Monitor has found that women are
more likely to start social enterprises – businesses that trade for
a social purpose – than traditional, purely commercial ones.
This finding corresponds with Ms Harrison’s own experience of
the female entrepreneurship community. “If you talk to women
entrepreneurs, they’ve all got a reason for doing their business,”
she says. “There’s something they want to change. It’s never as
simple as ‘I just wanted to make myself some money’, whereas
you do get that from men.”
For many women, especially mothers who may feel that they
do not receive enough support or understanding in a corporate
environment, the entrepreneurial route can appear very
attractive. As the mother of four young children, Ms Harrison
says that she has benefited from a career that gives her control
over her life, but warns against any would-be entrepreneur
thinking they will necessarily have any more free time. “Being
an entrepreneur means that you’re in charge of your own
destiny,” she says. “Whether it gives you any more time than
working for a company, I don’t think it does. But it does give
you the control over how you use your time. If you’re working
for a big city firm, you don’t necessarily get that.”
Despite the advances that have been made in the recognition
of female entrepreneurs, Ms Harrison feels that there is still a
place for women-only networks, at which female innovators can
share experiences, tips and contacts. “I speak at a lot of these
events and, for women who are just beginning, their biggest
problem is confidence,” she says. “You can see that women get
a lot of support from meeting other women and it not being a
male-dominated event.”
Although she has achieved outstanding success with A4E, Ms
Harrison sees no reason to rest on her laurels, and says that she
is pursuing ambitious market and geographical expansion plans.
By 2014, she expects annual revenues from A4E to reach £500m
(US$1bn), and for half of these to come from overseas projects,
which include centres in France, Germany, Israel, Poland and
South Africa. She is also in the throes of setting up a bank in a
joint venture that will provide services for the same demographic
that uses A4E’s training and skills offering. Her motivation
remains, as it always has been, to make a difference to
individuals’ lives. “Business is a lovely thing to be involved with
because it’s about people,” she says. “I love working with the
people I work with and I love seeing them become successful.”
2524
Few entrepreneurs in the UK have been as successful as Emma
Harrison at combining the goal of making a difference to people’s
lives with achieving financial success.
Case study: EmmaHarrison
As the Founder of A4E, a company that runs training and skills
services on behalf of the government to help unemployed
people back to work and advise small businesses, Ms Harrison
oversees a company with around 2,500 employees and
revenues of more than £100m. Her personal fortune is
estimated at more than £55m – enough to earn her a place on
the 2005 Sunday Times Rich List, a roll call of the UK’s
wealthiest individuals.
Ms Harrison developed her entrepreneurial skills at an early age,
running an illegal tuck shop at her local comprehensive school in
Sheffield. After graduating from Bradford University with an
engineering degree, she went to work with her father, who had set
up a training agency to provide support for those made
“The banks have woken up to the fact
that there’s some good business to be
had by working with women”
KV Kamath, the company’s (male) Managing Director and Chief
Executive, has made it company policy to encourage the
recruitment and development of women and, as a result,
females hold about a dozen of the top 40 management posts,
two out of five executive board seats, run two out of five
subsidiaries, and account for about 30 per cent of total staff.
Kalpana Morparia is one of two joint Managing Directors at ICICI
Bank. A lawyer by training, Ms Morparia has headed many
functions in the bank and has been described as “the backbone
of ICICI”. When she retires in May at the age of 58, she will
become Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ICICI
Holdings, a new company being spun off to control the bank’s
booming insurance and asset management businesses.
According to Ms Morparia, women in business have the
advantages of being “especially sensitive to employees and the
environment, rather than being just task-oriented”. She firmly
believes that women should not, and do not want to be, treated
differently from men. “The moment you do something special for
women, you lose them, because they don’t want that,” she says.
She has stayed in ICICI, despite relatively low salaries, “because
the empowerment is great – it gives an entrepreneurial
framework with all the support systems you need”.
Ms Morparia says that, increasingly, it does not matter whether
one is a man or a woman in India’s services business, especially in
finance and hospitality. By contrast, in manufacturing, it is rare for
women to get to the top, except as a member of a business family.
For example, in southern India, Rajshree Pathy is the Chairman &
Managing Director of her family’s Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals.
The high proportion of female senior executives at ICICI
creates an atmosphere of comradeship, which Ms Morparia
says that both she and her colleagues value. That said, they
don’t mind being the only woman in a meeting.
In contrast to some of the other interviewees questioned for this
report, Ms Morparia does not feel that women’s networks help.
“The more the emphasis on the difference in gender, the more
we are making it difficult for us to be accepted as successful,”
she says. Referring to another sort of network, several ICICI
employees point out that help given by relatives within the
Indian extended family support system makes it easier to build
careers than it might be in other countries.
What advice would Ms Morparia offer to other women who are
seeking similar success? “Completely erase from your mind that
you need to be treated differently from men,” she says. She then
adds, with a trace of humour typical of the ICICI women, “Men
are just as smart as women are”.
ICICI Bank is India’s second largest and fastest-growing bank and
perhaps the country’s best example of how to assimilate women
throughout an organisation.
2726
Case study: KalpanaMorparia
“The more the emphasis on the difference in
gender, the more we are making it difficult
for us to be accepted as successful”
2928
Having arrived in the UK in the 1970s, she had spent many years
feeling frustrated and disappointed at the poor quality of Indian
snack food available in supermarkets. “It was tasteless, it was
boring and it wasn’t authentic,” she says. Despite her lack of
business experience, she was convinced she could do better. “I
realised that the market was there,” she says. “People were
prepared to enjoy Indian food and therefore they deserved to eat
good quality, authentic Indian food.”
Ms Warsi had always been good at cooking, and, with some
family funding, began preparing and selling the snacks herself.
S&A Foods grew quickly, winning contracts to supply the
supermarket chains Asda and Safeway, so she soon took on two
chefs to allow her to concentrate on running the business.
Despite the rapid growth, she has never compromised on
quality, she says, and the company has always used fresh
ingredients and authentic recipes.
In 1987, she and her husband sold the company to the Hughes
Food group as a way of raising additional funds to build a
factory. (They later bought the company back when Hughes
Food folded.) The first factory was built in Derby in 1989, and
employed 100 people. Today S&A Foods employs 700 people
and has a turnover of approximately US$130m.
Ms Warsi doesn’t feel that her sex has been a disadvantage or
an advantage. “Being yourself and having confidence in your
product is far more important than whether you’re a woman or
a man,” she says. “What matters is that you know what you’re
doing and where you’re going, and you know that your products
are better and different and you have the right people.”
Business success depends, she believes, on the ability to focus
attention on a number of different things at the same time: “You
have to think about where you’re going, and what your goals
are, but at the same time you must communicate that to other
people. It’s a lot to do with managing people, and a lot to do
with understanding your market.”
It has sometimes been hard, she says, to manage family life as
well as running a business, but she has had plenty of help from
her husband, a full-time GP, and her friends. She has also found
formal support networks very useful. “Networking is vital in
business. It’s very important to exchange views and ideas and
learn from each other, because not everybody has all the
knowledge and all the contacts you need.”
S&A Foods has diversified into supplying Thai, Malaysian and
Chinese food, and also exports to France and Germany. Despite
a dip in turnover in recent years, Ms Warsi plans to continue
expanding the business. Her advice to other entrepreneurs,
male and female alike, is to have a clear vision. “Know where
you’re going,” she says. “Be confident about your products, that
they’re different and unique. Be yourself, and be open to
learning. Employ the right people who are passionate about the
business, who are capable and who take pride in delivering.”
When Perween Warsi set up S&A Foods in 1986, she was 30 years
old and had two sons aged eight and 10. Case study:
PerweenWarsi
“Being yourself and having confidence in
your product is far more important than
whether you’re a woman or a man”
Ms Giunta comes from what she describes as a typical Italian
family, in which the boys were expected to go out to work and
the girls to stay at home and have children. “I think a lot of my
assertiveness has arisen from the fact that, from the beginning, I
had to tell everyone in my family ‘I’ve got a brain too,’” she says.
After acquiring a degree in French language and civilisation from
the Sorbonne in Paris, she joined Coutts & Co as a Portfolio
Manager. Ms Giunta quickly realised that “building wealth for
other people was not my vocation” and joined IBM, in the mid-
1980s, on an entry-level programme. At a time when businesses
were beginning to grasp the potential that computers offered,
Ms Giunta’s job was to deploy enterprise solutions for large
customers. “IBM wanted me to be a sales rep, but I just wanted
to be a project manager – someone who sees how people use IT
and how it drives their business. And, for eight years, that’s
what I did. I ran large projects,” she says.
She admits that her main skills were not in IT. “The skills that made
me succeed were my assertiveness, my curiosity and my ability to
communicate with people,” she explains. Her greatest strength,
however, is “the fact that I can easily map out tasks and resources
to get to the end goal. I make a plan and then work the plan.”
From IBM, she moved to Legent – later acquired by Computer
Associates – where she worked first in marketing and then in
research and development. In 1999, she was hired as President
and CEO of Managed Objects, which was at the time a small
business providing software to help organisations manage
their IT infrastructure.
In the male-dominated environment of IT, Ms Giunta believes that
being a woman has had both drawbacks and advantages. “At the
beginning, you might have to work a little bit harder, to make
people get away from the fact that you’re different,” she says. On
the other hand, she adds, an individual woman in a crowd of men
will stand out. “When I am at a big conference and give a
presentation, there is more chance that people will remember me.”
Her career has also benefited, she believes, from her linguistic
ability. At IBM, the fact that she could communicate with
members of project teams across Europe in their own language
was enormously helpful. She also takes more care than some of
her male counterparts, she believes, in maintaining a personal
relationship with her staff. At work parties, she makes an effort
to remember the names of employees’ spouses and children.
IT can be a tough sector for women to work in, acknowledges
Ms Giunta, because managers are usually required to be mobile.
Women in their thirties often face the assumption that they will
have children and be unavailable for particular opportunities.
“The only way you can take that away is to demonstrate your
availability and to be assertive about your skills,” she says.
But perhaps the greatest challenge, she says, is to be assertive
without being overbearing. “It is the toughest balancing act that
anyone has to do,” she concludes.
As CEOs go, Siki Giunta is one of a kind. An Italian woman who can
speak four languages and has a background in the arts and
humanities, she has presided over the transformation of US software
company Managed Objects from a start-up with eight employees to
a global business with 150 employees and revenues of US$30m.
3130
Case study:
Siki Giunta
“The skills that made me succeed were my
assertiveness, my curiosity and my ability to
communicate with people”
Women’s wealth and economic influence around the world is on
the increase. What’s more, this report reveals a clear shift from the
traditional view of women’s prosperity deriving from inheritance
and marriage. It points out that more women are increasingly
making their money through entrepreneurship and business.
Despite this progress in socioeconomic standing, our findings
show that women are still more cautious and display less
confidence towards taking risks with their money, whether in
personal finance or business matters.
This is evident in their investment behaviour. Their focus tends
to be more purpose driven - seeking to protect their assets -
while men display greater confidence, professing a deeper
knowledge of personal finance matters.
The challenge for financial institutions is to take notice of these
differences and recognise that a one size fits all approach to
how they communicate with their clients doesn’t work.
Over the past 10 years the opportunity for women to increase,
invest and enjoy their wealth has grown significantly. With
predictions that the ‘female wealth explosion’ is set to expand
further during the next decade, organisations targeting wealthy
women are encouraged to respond to the innovation from the
financial industry in its endeavours to connect with this
powerful market segment.
32
ConclusionWomen and a wealth of opportunity
33
Written by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Barclays
Wealth, this report examines the relationship between wealth
and gender, and explores differences between the attitudes of
women and men to wealth matters. It is based on three main
strands of research: a global survey of around 600 affluent, high
net worth and ultra high net worth individuals; a series of in-
depth interviews with experts on wealth and gender; and a
number of case studies of leading female entrepreneurs and
business women. Our thanks are due to the survey respondents
and interviewees for their time and insight.
About this report
Whilst every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy of this
information, neither The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. nor
Barclays Wealth can accept any responsibility or liability for
reliance by any person on this report or any of the information,
opinions or conclusions set out in the report.
This document is intended solely for informational purposes,
and is not intended to be a solicitation or offer, or
recommendation to acquire or dispose of any investment or to
engage in any other transaction, or to provide any investment
advice or service.
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