The world’s private equity industry remains a heavily male-dominated one, according to figures from Preqin, the research firm. It showed that on average, only 9 per cent of senior roles are held by women, up from 8.7 per cent from a year ago.

The world’s private equity industry remains a heavily male-dominated one, according to figures from Preqin, the research firm. It showed that on average, only 9 per cent of senior roles are held by women, up from 8.7 per cent from a year ago.

There have been some changes, however. The fastest gain in female representation in top roles was in North America, with the share of positions up by 0.7 percentage points over the last year. Women now account for 11 per cent of such roles in North America.

Women in European private equity firms hold roughly 10 per cent of senior roles – about the same share as in Asia.

“There is much to work to do to both encourage more women to enter the private equity industry – in fact this goes for all of the financial and investment sector,” a spokesperson for the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association told this publication.

“Our industry is one which needs to harness all its talents in order to drive growth and returns, and we need to encourage everyone to get involved. No one should be overlooked,” the spokesperson said.

The statistics come at a time when there have been calls for women to have more power in the corporate boardroom and investment sector, particularly given that women in some jurisdictions hold a large share of total wealth.

The report was based on findings drawn from over 7,200 private equity fund managers.

Although women in Asia have held the highest proportion high-level roles, the share has fallen since March 2013 to 11.8 per cent from 12.8 per cent, the survey found.

The dominance of men in private equity firms becomes starker at the smaller-sized private equity firms. Firms with one to five staff have only 8.4 per cent of senior roles held by women, down from 9.2 per cent in 2012. However, women account for 11.5 per cent of senior roles in larger firms, rising from 9.3 per cent in 2012.

The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association holds an annual “Women in Private Equity Series” forum in London, inviting women from across the industry to share their candid experiences.