Financial services is one of the largest employers in the UK and often sited as a shining star in the UK economy, attracting inward investment and talent from world over. And yet, as far as gender equity is concerned it is far from the leading light.
The numbers make poor reading.
The number of women working in financial services has fallen by more than 200,000 over the past 25 years, reducing female representation from 57 per cent in 2007 to 45 per cent in 2021, according to a report by the London Stock Exchange.
FCA figures from 2022 revealed women make up just 16 per cent of regulated advisers, and only 12 per cent of wealth managers, according to Citywire's Alpha Female Report published in September 2022.
At 27.9 per cent, the pay gap in financial services is two times the national average, Statista data from this year reveals.
Women customers are also poorly served by the industry. They are the single largest underserved group in financial services, finds the Oliver Wyman "Women in Financial Services 2020" report.
The charity One Loud Voice for Women has created a gender balance benchmark, which is due to be launched in May.
The benchmark is an enabling tool to help companies on their journey to gender balance, identifying its current status and gaps it needs to fill.
The benchmark incorporates some 35 measures within its seven overarching goals for firms wanting to achieve gender equality.
Below I outline some measures that I believe are particularly pertinent to financial services firms.
Board commitment to gender equality
Without a serious commitment with specific targets and action to bring about meaningful change, progress will continue to move far too slow.
Far too many companies at present think they are taking action just because they support International Women's Day, they have a women’s network or are signatory to the Women in Finance Charter.
I would urge companies to task HR to recruit twice more women in senior and middle management than men, year on year until the firm's targets are met.
It is only when this happens that the dial in women representation will change.
Eliminating the pay gap
Women are paid less than men. Firms can argue and try to justify it at all sorts of level: more women in lower paid work dragging the average down, historical discrepancy which will take time to correct, and so on.
But the reality is that women on average get paid less than men.
I was one of those women in the not too distance past.
So I propose that firms need to have internal and external audits to monitor and report on gaps in gender pay, bonus and rewards.
This should be reported to the board or remuneration committee who should have a commitment to eliminate the firm’s pay gap within the next five years.
This level of scrutiny and commitment is needed if the pay gap is to be reduced to a negligible level.
