Look, when you put this question into Google, you are likely to be hoping that I will answer it either with a resounding no, women are queens! or pop in some unpleasant reality bomb of testosterone and taking risks. However, here is the thing; this question would be similar to the question, are apples better oranges than fruit? It is much more interesting that a yes or no, and, frankly speaking, the data may be a surprise to you.
The financial industry has always been a boy club. Go to the trading floor of any investment bank or a venture capital firm and you will still see a pool of suits with few spots of women in-between like finding a Pokemon. But are men better in finance than women, or has not that been something we have been looking at? Spoiler alert: the solution is old stereotypes, structural obstacles, and select plot lines which will make you reevaluate everything you believed about who is literally smashing it with money.
The Numbers Don’t Lie, But They Tell an Interesting Story
We can begin with what the real numbers indicate since emotions cannot write the checks, realities can. Various research by leading financial organizations has researched performance of investments by men and women and, what do you think? In fact, women perform better than men in terms of returns.
The Fidelity Investment Company examined 5 million investment accounts and realized that female portfolios performed 0.4 percent better than those of men each year. That may not be too large, but compound that in decades and we are talking about a lot of money. A research by Warwick Business School discovered that women investors in the UK had a major 1.8 percent outperformance over men. A 2012-22 study by Wells Fargo revealed that women made better returns than men taking less risk.
So if someone asks are men better in finance than women based purely on investment returns, the data screams no. But hold on, because the plot thickens.
Why Women Actually Make Killer Investors
That is where the interest begins. There is a tendency of women to invest differently as compared to men, and those disparities in most cases favor them. Females have a higher tendency to purchase good stocks and hold them over the long term rather than trading them in a day as though playing a video game. They will not panic-sell as much when the market gets wiggly, and they certainly do not think of cryptocurrency as a lottery ticket (crying crypto bros).
It has been found that women get into their investment accounts approximately three times a week as compared to men who visit their accounts nearly five times a week. Women trade at a ratio of 27 percent lower than men. And the best part is this: all trading less is better trading since you will not be literally bled to death due to fees and taxes and you will not be attempting to market-tailgate-like a fortune teller.
Women also happen to be much more prone to incorporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) aspects in their investment choices. Approximately, 58 percent of the female investors report that these factors are important to them. They are not only considering short-term gains. They will employ the services of financial advisors rather than become full cowboys with their cash.
So What’s the Problem Then?
Why is it that finance remains a male domain despite the fact that women are such great investors? Buckle up, then, here the real trouble begins.
Women are paid 83 cents per 1 dollar that men receive as per the 2024 statistics of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is, they do not have as much money to invest in the first place. The median amount that women have saved in terms of retirement is 50,000 as opposed to 157,000 in men. It is not due to our bad judgment of the female gender about finance, but we do simply have less money to play with in the workforce.
Regarding leadership, Fortune 500 banks have only 2.1% of female CEOs despite the high number of women employees in the same companies (54.3%). Women only have 4.9 percent senior positions in venture capital. Private equity? Women are only offered 10% of top positions. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, the financial services industry has the highest pay gap between males and females at 26.1%.
When someone wonders are men better in finance than women, they tend to confuse outputs and abilities. It is similar to inquiring whether a person is a bad runner when he has been made to run with ankle weights.
The Confidence Gap Is Real But Misleading
And here is the crazy part, just 30 percent of women are very confident about the choice they make in terms of investments in comparison to 45 percent of men. However, keep in mind these performance figures. Women perform better than men although they have less confidence. Such is the archetypal case of imposter syndrome on a large scale.
Women are less likely by 30 percent to identify themselves as confident investors, but are doing better. Men are here swaggering about making risky trades and looking at their portfolios at least five times a day whereas women are quietly accumulating wealth in a tedious, serious manner that actually works.
The knowledge gap in the financial literacy does not assist. Women report to have been taught about investing as a growing person only 23 percent compared to 45 percent of the men. When you are brought up believing that finance was a guy thing, you would not be willing to jump in even though you may be good at it due to the biological nature of it.
The Plot Twist: What’s Changing in 2026
The situation is, in fact, beginning to change, at a gradual pace. By 2025, 71 percent of women were investing in the stock market as compared to only 59 percent in 2023. In two years that is an enormous leap. The younger female generation is the first among them in opening an investment account with the average age of millennials being 27 years as it is 36 years among boomers.
Females are opening 48 percent of new brokerage accounts in 2025. Women-specific websites such as Ellevest are experiencing a growth rate of more than 25% per annum. The story is shifting and women are understanding that they do not have to be finance bros in order to accumulate wealth.
The situation is mixed in the case of corporate finance. Women in the software finance business are charging ahead, with almost half of them having earned above $250k. Women are getting expedited access to CFO and VP positions through smaller companies. Financial working moms are literally earning more than their non-mom counterparts, and over 50 percent are in VP positions and are earning in the 200K -200K+ bracket.
However, this is the wake-up call: according to the projections, the level of female representation in financial services will not grow further in 10 years unless drastic measures are undertaken. Although 70 percent of the top leadership are enthusiastic about diversity programs, 45 percent of those in the front line are involved and this restricts the actual change.
The Real Answer: Capability Versus Opportunity
So back to the original question: are men better in finance than women? Hell no. The statistics indicate that women are in fact very good when it comes to handling money, investment decision making and returns. They are also serious, tactical and less prone to launching their portfolios on meme stocks.
It is not about the ability, but the opportunity. Being underpaid, underpromoted, discriminated against in the recruitment and promotion process will lead to poorer results regardless of how bright you are. Whereas men are twice as likely to become return offenders, women are more than twice more likely to lose their jobs than men when misconduct occurs.
The finance sector was established by men, to men, and that tradition continues to inform almost everything, such as who gets a promotion to what kind of good leadership appears. It takes not only talent to break into that system but even to grapple with huge structural obstacles.
Looking Forward: The Future of Finance
By 2026, we are already experiencing some signs of the real change. Mary Callahan Erdoes heads the asset and wealth management department of JPMorgan. Abigail Johnson is the Fidelity CEO. TIAA is headed by Thasunda Brown Duckett. These are not the token appointments; these are giant leaders who are changing the industry.
Studies continue to suggest that gender diversity in finance is more productive, innovative and decision-making is more robust. Firms with high gender diversity in the first quartile