There is a good reason most banks and financial institutions prefer to employ women. The general argument is that women are better managers – and are more organised compared to the menfolk.
Janet, a former Operations Manager at a bank in Nairobi, told Mwanahabari.co.ke that most women are not rushed, and tend to think through things before taking certain actions especially where risk is involved.
“Most women can multi-task and which is very important in the world of money. All you have to do is look at your wife or girlfriend back at home and you will understand what I am trying to say,” said Janet.
Adding: “I don’t mean to say that men are poor at money handling and management, because again we have very good men working in giant financial institutions across the world – only that majority are women.”
The same question has been raised in the world of Forex trading.
Are women better at Forex trading?
Julius is an aspiring Forex trading – and is currently being trained by a female Forex trader.
“I have interacted with a few individual Forex traders both men and women. I can say, from my interaction, that the girl has been patient with me and has even helped me make some good money. The losses are very minimal compared to when a male friend was holding my hand,” said Julius.
This is a hotly contested debate with some men feeling that they are as good as the girls when it comes to Forex trading.
There is an argument that women tend to trade fewer times than men, which helps to minimize the amount of time they are likely to lose money just moments after winning it.
According to a study, male traders are 2.5x more likely to break trading rules than women when trading Forex. The same study also showed that male traders were more erroneous at taking short positions than women traders, with more than 58 percent of women placing short trades correctly, compared to 53 percent for male traders.
Most of this has been attributed to emotions.
Male traders are often driven by emotions (this is a highly disputed statement out there) and money pressures especially in regions or countries where men tend to be the heads of households.
Then there’s the issue of ego. Men are egotistical – and will hardly admit they have erred, which can be catastrophic and costly on the trading floor.
Our women can better maneuver through a crisis situation, which again is enhanced by their ability to know when to say NO on the trading floor.
Another study by Financial Skills revealed that female traders lost less money compared to the male traders largely because the men are a lot willing to take risks which sometimes results in mountainous losses.
That said, it is true that a majority of the menfolk are equally doing very fine on the trading floor.