Women lack the time to invest, and are less confident about their ability to make good investment decisions, according to new research from Barclays Stockbrokers, which has launched an initiative called SmartWoman to encourage female investors.

The research found just a third of women (34 per cent) consider themselves to be quite experienced when it comes to investing, compared to half of men (47 per cent), and a fifth of  women (19 per cent) say they are not very experienced at all.

This is despite the fact that academic research has found women to be superior traders, because they suffer less from overconfidence which leads to excessive trading, thereby reducing returns. According to a study by Brad Barber and Terrance Odean of the University of California, men trade 45 per cent more than women and earn annual risk-adjusted net returns that are 1.4 per cent less than those earned by women.

“There is no question that women are just as financially able as men. Investing is not just about trading; it is about making provision for the future, whether that is for yourself or for your family,” said Barbara-Ann King, head of investments at Barclays Stockbrokers.

“Although we do have confident female clients that invest every day, this number is still dwarfed by our active male clients. More needs to be done to encourage more women to start making investment decisions for themselves; this is where we hope to help with our SmartWoman initiative,” said King.