What hurts the PE and VC industry in gender diversity

“Of course gender diversity is important. I would be happy to have women on my team join Winpay if they have free time. We are a busy fund.”

Now the other side. “There is only one woman in our team so gender diversity is not a priority”.

“We only have one woman in the team and she is pregnant so we can’t have anyone. You can see why gender diversity is not important.”

“The only currency we care about is the internal rate of return (IRR) and our LPs are happy with that.”

I can’t decide which bothers me more. Condescending symbolism of gender diversity or blatant disregard and disrespect for it. Symbolism bothers me because it disrespects talented women, categorizing them as causes that need to be subsidized. Instead of viewing them as individuals with specialization, it lumps them into a general group based on gender.

It clearly misses the logic of ‘finding the best talent’, ends up with a check-the-box exercise. Is gender diversity only about hiring a woman? Have you achieved your goal with that one hire? Maybe you have, if your LP only demanded it. I should mention this instance when the gender action plan of an LP asked only the fund manager’s team to receive posh training. really? Could the bar have been set lower?

Then there are the fund managers who don’t care. At least be honest. Not that it should matter to the women on their teams who aren’t even aware of how insignificant they are in the scheme of things.

Who said that IRR and gender diversity are mutually exclusive? , Imagine, planning your motherhood not realizing that your firm assumes you are not returning to work.

Let me share this fascinating insight I read – by questioning the state of equality in industry and acknowledging that it is heavily skewed in favor of men, it is possible to question the success and authority of male leaders have been If things were equal, would they have had equal success? This makes some men uncomfortable and resistant. Interesting point, isn’t it, especially when you consider the number of alpha males in the PE/VC industry!

The truth is that not everyone is that bad. There are brilliant investors, both men and women, confident and secure in their self-worth and pushing for gender diversity. I am fortunate to have known him and worked with him. People who are really committed to the long term and trying to change the situation. But what about the rest? Who is calling them? Where are the women and LP?

Is LP talking to itself? How are they integrating gender into their operations and decision making? Is it enough to due diligence a fund with a checklist that only focuses on point-in-time data and ignores other important factors? Aren’t they rewarding semiotics and exacerbating it? Most LPs say it is difficult for them to push for gender diversity because they “owe it to their investors” to invest for maximum returns. But wait, isn’t there research to show that gender balanced teams deliver better financial performance? I also want to call out the women in the industry. Why are we so busy that we cannot take a stand for ourselves. Why are we prepared to ignore the subtext? Maybe because we are used to it and it has been the way of doing things. But are we so eager to be one of the “boys” that we forget to claim our place? We can keep talking about the business case and the ethical case with industry, but for real change to happen, women have to come forward and take their place in the sun.

Nupur Garg is the Founder and Board Member of Winpay, Senior Consultant, PE Industry.