The Performance of Hedge Funds: Are There Differences in Terms of Gender?

The hedge fund (HF) industry is known to be one of the most unequal professional fields when it comes to gender. This study quantifies and confirms this severe gender gap, which appears to be persistent or even widening in recent years. We assess whether performance and risk differences explain this gap by comparing samples of woman-managed HFs vs. man-managed HFs. Through analyzing their descriptive statistics first, examining their alphas using HF benchmark indices and a pricing model and, finally, comparing differences in wealth generation, we found no evidence of performance differences that could explain such an extreme gender gap. Furthermore, our results do not support the view that women are more risk-averse than men, or that this is translated into their investment decisions. Other sociocultural factors probably partly explain the existence and persistence of this gender gap in hedge funds.