Financial Planning reports: Women make up only a small slice of the portfolio management business, but a recent study shows that the top performers surveyed beat their benchmarks most of the time.

The study by Investment Metrics, a data analytics firm in Norwalk, Connecticut, covered 353 portfolios across 176 firms over a 10-year period. The top-performing managers beat their benchmark indexes and did so in at least seven of the 10 years studied.

Despite that success, however, women are woefully underrepresented in portfolio management. Of the portfolios surveyed, 50 had a woman in the lead or co-lead management position – 14%.