Can women be the new Trojan horse?

In a fascinating program focused on Impact Investing, Hugh Water Women, a New York based group of hedge fund women leaders, took a two-pronged approach to women and investing.

Panel discussions explored how women treat finance and how, if we are empowered, we can impact change for the good.

Why do women lack confidence about finance?  Several insights that emerged were particularly interesting.

1. Women know more than they think they do.  (Cororlary: Men know less than they think they do and also act ‘as if’ easily)

2.  Failure is acceptable in men and not in women.

3.  Women are more risk averse, but this can be positive in terms of performance, personal or corporate.

4.  Chinese women are as successful in finance as Chinese men.  They are highly educated and may benefit from the one child policy.

Impact Investment stories were told by the Cordes Foundation.  Setting Impact and Portfolio objectives were detailed by representatives of the MacArthur Foundation, Anthos Asset Management, Ceniarth and Treehouse Investments.

Breakout sessions combined representatives of law, government and financial institutions.

US Trust, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse among others focused on how the mainstream is joining the Impact Investing movement.

The afternoon breakout sessions included such topics as education, the environment, and personal investing.

The complexity of women’s position in the financial world was clearly presented.

Women’s priorities: making a better future world, providing young people with the education and health benefits they need to thrive, may well come to the fore as women take positions on corporate boards, invest in other women and generally gain power.

This is where the Trojan horse comes in:  women will gain position through the gender equality battle.  When they achieve power, are they prepared to fight for what’s good  for the future?