'Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression'. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Over the last 30 years women have made tremendous advances in education, business and pay when compared to their male counterparts.

For businesses that have embraced an inclusive culture that rewards and recognises the differences that women can bring to the board table, they have been rewarded. In the McKinsey & Company study, "Women Matter" (2007), the analysis demonstrated that on average companies with more women in their management teams score more highly on organisational performance criteria than companies with no women in senior positions and that this translates into superior economic performance.

As AFL Investments researched women's attitudes towards investing, we were astonished to discover how uncomfortable women are about getting involved in the investing world.

In 2006 researchers, Hira and Loibl, studied the differences in gender investment behaviours in highly educated, high income households.

What they determined was that 60 percent of women handle the daily money management tasks.

However, when it came to investment decisions, 66 percent of the women said that they make investment decisions with their partners and only 15 percent would make investment decisions on their own compared to 35 percent of men.

In exploring the reasons behind the differences, Hira and Loibl discovered that women found "investing less exciting and satisfying and investment decisions to be more stressful, difficult, and time-consuming than men".

An Allianz study in 2008 determined that "one in three (women were) eager to learn, but one in five say they don't know where to begin".

But what happens when women do begin to invest? Research suggests that women actually do better than men. Barber and Odean in 2001 studied data from 35,000 investment accounts and they documented that women outperformed men primarily because they did not trade excessively and held less risky stocks.

This finding is supported by a UK study by website Digital Look that surveyed 100,000 portfolios in 2002 and 2005, which determined those women's portfolios on average outperformed men's portfolios in both positive and negative markets.

So, how do women approach investing?

The biggest difference is that women generally invest only when they are comfortable with what they are investing in.

A Barclays Wealth study in 2007 found that "women generally want to know more about an investment proposition and fully understand it before they are prepared to sign up...women are much more clinical in their need to know what they are going to get before they sign up for something".

As a woman involved in investing, it was frustrating to see from various research articles that on average only 20 percent of investment accounts are actually opened by women.

But it was also obvious that the reason for this low statistic is because women want to understand investing before diving in.

The biggest barriers to investing for women are that they find information about investing inaccessible, boring and they don't understand the terminology. All of this can be overcome.

Getting started in investing is often best done when working with an adviser.

A wealth adviser can help you to select the right investments for you and make sure that they fit in with your personal goals and objectives.

You need to be comfortable with the adviser you choose. Work with someone who is interested in your personal objectives and who will help you select investments that match those goals.

Be wary of the adviser who just pushes the latest company product at you or the next greatest investment option.

Investments must match your risk tolerance and your long term goals. Make your adviser explain to you why the investment is a good choice and how it works.

Just like McKinsey and Company determined that women add value to company performance, women can and do add value to a family's investment performance.

Investing is one of the last frontiers that women have yet to fully embrace and tackle, and it is high time that they did.

Eleanor Roosevelt was right, women have a special value to offer in decisions that are made, and that includes investment decisions.

Cindy Campbell, chief operating officer of AFL Investments, heads a team of wealth advisers that specialise in indentifying individuals and corporations' wealth goals and matching investments to meet those goals. She can be reached at 298-0840 or ccampbell@aflinvestments.bm