For Gillian Kwek, a portfolio manager with Fidelity International in Singapore, the job of managing assets is more like a marathon than a sprint. It often takes patience and the ability to thrive under pressure.

Being a female fund manager in the industry for 15 years, Kwek, who has a husband traveling as much she does and three energetic school-age children, said it could be daunting initially for working moms to juggle family matters and work responsibilities.

Nonetheless, Kwek is a strong believer that gender diversity will lead to better investment performance because formulating investment strategies requires a team of "people with different life experiences, temperament, risk appetites and even energy levels," to generate new ideas and insights.