Women’s wealth is rising

By THE DATA TEAM

MARCH 8th, International Women’s Day, always brings a flood of reports about gender inequalities in everything from health outcomes to pay and promotion. But one gap is gradually narrowing: that in wealth. As money managers seek to attract and serve rich women, and as those women express their values through their portfolios, the impact will be felt within the investment industry and beyond.

According to the Boston Consulting Group, between 2010 and 2015 private wealth held by women grew from $34trn to $51trn. Women’s wealth also rose as a share of all private wealth, though less spectacularly, from 28% to 30%. By 2020 they are expected to hold $72trn, 32% of the total. And most of the private wealth that changes hands in the coming decades is likely to go to women.

At the very top of the pile too, women are seeing more of the wealth. In 2000, Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 richest individuals featured just four women. Today, ten women make the top 100, and although that proportion might not change any time soon, their positions in the “real-time ranking” do: Francoise Bettencourt Meyers added over $1bn to her net worth overnight, jumping three places to become the richest woman in the world, a title previously held by her mother.

Read more in “The power of money” from the print edition