Around the world, the proportion of senior positions at private equity buyout firms that are held by women has only increased from 8.7% to 9.0% over the past year, according to newly released figures by Preqin.
For venture capital firms, the proportion has remained the same, 11.2%. Real estate and infrastructure fund managers have seen the biggest changes. The proportion of women holding senior positions at real estate firms rose by 1.5 percentage points; at infrastructure firms, it increased by 1.2 percentage points.
From a geographical standpoint, firms based in North America have seen the most notable rise in the proportion of senior positions held by female employees—from 10.3% in March 2013 to 11.0% in March 2014. Europe has seen a slight decrease—from 9.9% to 9.7%. While Asia-based fund managers retain the highest proportional representation of women in high-level roles, the proportion there has also fallen—from 12.8% to 11.8%. The rest of the world has seen a negligible increase—from 9.8% to 10%.
As far as size is concerned, small firms—those with one to five senior employees—have had a steadily declining proportion of high-level roles held by women—down from 8.7% in 2013 to 8.4% in 2014. At larger firms, however, the proportion has been steadily rising. In firms with 11 to 20 senior employees, women account for 11.5% of senior roles as of March 2014, compared with 10.7% in March 2013. For firms with more than 20 senior employees, the proportion has not changed from 11.9% last year.
Related articles: