Just a glance at a recent report from the World Bank is enough to clarify that, in terms of pandemic recovery, “advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies are on two different flight paths,” with advanced economies on track to return to pre-pandemic trends by next year while EMs find themselves “flying low” and vulnerable to further “headwinds”.
This huge economic disparity lends an extra degree of urgency to discussions surrounding economic inclusion, a process which – according to groups like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals organisation – can help to create jobs, stimulate business activity, and improve growth for individuals, companies, and countries across the emerging world. However, while such discussions are important and necessary, we need to be careful about how we frame the subject of EM financial inclusion.
After all, though it does absolutely help to accelerate growth, EMs are not just helpless victims, and attempts to improve economic inclusion aren’t moral crusades or exercises in charity – if nothing else, there’s a robust business case for improving access to the credit and cross-border payments services that young, tech-savvy EM populations need to continue thriving without punitive restrictions.
What is economic inclusion?
In brief, economic or financial inclusion refers to ensuring that people and organisations have access to the financial services (or products) that meet their needs. These, according to the World Bank, can include “transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance” – though I would place transaction accounts at the top of that list.
It might be tempting, on encountering economic inclusion, to assume that it’s an idea to be directed at unbanked people – that is, people who have no bank accounts whatsoever and who deal entirely in cash. And, to be clear, there are still a lot of unbanked people in the world today – to the tune of 1.7 billion, in fact, according to the latest Global Findex Report.
Equally, though, economic inclusion is about widening access to financial services – a slightly more pervasive issue that can wear different masks.
Unbanked or underbanked?
Let’s say, for example, that a person from an EM like Kenya wants to set up a business – they’re digitally literate; they understand the services and platform they need, and they’re completely capable of procuring those services.
That person may well encounter a problem, however: not because they’re technically unable to access a digital platform, but because the international nature of the platform means any subscriptions made by the Kenyan business owner will be subject to the often punitive, regulation-borne fees involved in cross-border payments to and from EMs.
This isn’t the same as being unbanked – the person in this scenario may well have a personal transaction account, for example – but the practical result is the same: an EM country is denied an economy-boosting new business, and an individual can’t pursue their livelihood without a huge amount of hassle.
The many motives for strong inclusion
For me, there is a clear moral dimension to ensuring that financial inclusion is as widespread as possible. Digital financial inclusion, especially, is capable of lifting people out of poverty and, as I’ve mentioned, improving the economic prospects of EM countries more broadly.
That doesn’t mean Western financial institutions should spend too much time patting themselves on the backs for any moves towards inclusion – after all, Western regulatory pressures play a huge role in the underbanked status of EM countries. Besides, it would be disingenuous to frame financial inclusion as some charitable act to be preached about when, in fact, there’s a robust business case to be made in its favour.
Commentators like McKinsey have noted that this market consists of around two billion people (and 200 million small businesses) who are currently underbanked and the benefit is clear for service providers prepared to embrace potentially lucrative new revenue streams in a secure compliance-driven environment– for example by inserting themselves into the innumerable micropayments that come hand-in-hand with the frictionless ease of digital transactions.
Inclusive futures
The motives and outcomes for financial inclusion are, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder. For EM countries facing post-pandemic economic deceleration, though, the former is perhaps less significant than the latter.
Whether such efforts are viewed in terms of a mechanism for reducing poverty; stimulating economic growth; correcting Western regulatory bias; or as a canny business move, the result is that once we focus on establishing financial innocence rather than looking for financial guilt we get to a point that individuals and the market generally will only benefit both emerging and more established markets, with the myriad opportunities that will result.
About the author: Richard Shearer is the CEO of Tintra.
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Often referred to as the ‘gender investment gap’, this issue really matters because many women are likely to face a significant financial shortfall in the longer term, particularly when it comes to retirement. Of course, the gender pay gap compounds the problem which is something not to be ignored. So, being careful not to gender stereotypes, what is it that is holding women back? What are the common barriers that women face and, more importantly, how can we address these?
Let’s start with confidence, or lack thereof
Research points to women lacking confidence when it comes to investing and investment decision-making. Many women tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to investment proactivity – which of course is a self-fulfilling prophecy as it is that very experience that builds confidence.
Lack of confidence is compounded by self-perception
Believe it or not, many women hold the self-perception that ‘investing is not for them’ and, as a consequence, avoid becoming active investors, in some instances outsourcing to partners to make the investment decisions.
Language can put women off
Yes, conversations about money can be intimidating, and sometimes this is made worse by the language and terminology used by investment professionals. In the past, the investment industry has also done little to build levels of financial literacy with their female customers and avoided resolving the problem.
We are failing women by the way we communicate about money
It’s not just the language and terminology used. It is also the core message we communicate to women when it comes to money assumptions and expectations. Linguistic research highlights that the media and advertising industries encourage men to ‘dare to invest’, subtly implying that financial success makes you ‘more of a man’. Whereas they tend to depict women as needing to limit, restrict and take better control of splurges. What can we do to turn this around? What steps can we take to support women to invest more, for their financial futures?
Start by focusing on improving levels of financial literacy for women
The investment industry itself can play a constructive role in this, so can schools and universities by teaching young women the investing fundamentals and building investor confidence. The good news is that there are more and more female-focused investment networks and solutions available now – we need more so let’s actively support these.
We need more women working in the investment industry to design and deliver better products and services for female clients
A better gender balance is critical because diversity of thought, experience, and action are core components of what the industry needs to be fit for the future. In addition, more women working in the industry will help to build trust with female customers, and will support the design of products and services better suited to women’s financial needs.
Back to communication
Let’s change the way we communicate with women on money matters. This is really important – we simply must change how we communicate with women about personal finance. This should start with stopping the portrayal of women as excessive spenders, in need of guidance to help them save and restrict. We can also highlight female role models who are making their way in the investment world in order to send the right messages.
Looking for new channels of delivery, we can leverage tech to democratise the way that women invest
Developments in tech offer us a pathway to connect and communicate with women in different ways from the past. To do that we must employ a female lens when designing tech-based investment solutions for women. In addition, we can customise investment products and services that fit best for what women are looking for today.
What do women really want?
It is time for us to think more deeply about women’s financial needs and deliver on these. Simply rebranding products for a female audience will not achieve the fundamental change we are looking for. The industry also needs to think more deeply about the kind of products and services that women want. For example, increasingly women are seeking out sustainable and impact investing products and services to include in their personal portfolios. More and more women are prioritising environmental and social impact when considering their investment choices. It is time the industry recognised this shift and started addressing it.
Jessica Robinson
The COVID pandemic has been financially tough on many women – often disproportionately so. This makes the call for addressing the gender investment gap even louder – but small steps can be taken, with potentially huge benefits to be reaped.
About the author: Jessica Robinson is a leading expert on sustainable finance and responsible investing, and author of Financial Feminism: A Woman's Guide to Investing for a Sustainable Future. Find out more at moxiefuture.com
Constance Minc, chief financial officer at IFS, explains how mentoring can help elevate women in finance.
For women, doubts can be raised through the process. A decision about whether or not to study accountancy can be impacted by the knowledge that the vast majority of CFOs (just under 90% according to research from Crist Kolder Associates) are men. The lack of visible role models for women thinking of taking on a finance post will act as a deterrent for many.
The challenge certainly continues in the workplace though, and mentoring and support needs to be applied on an ongoing basis, especially when women working in finance look to rise through the ranks. Equileap’s Gender Equality Report & Ranking Report 2021 found that while women represent 50% of the workforce in financial companies globally, the representation of women remains low in higher levels of management, with an average of 26% women on the board of directors, 18% women on the executive team, and 28% women in senior management.
These are figures that demonstrate clearly that while mentoring at an early stage is important, this support must be present throughout a woman’s career to ensure that when the time comes they do not feel that they need to choose between a career and a family. Mentoring, in other words, needs to be about retention, not just recruitment and onboarding.
Mentoring facilitates and supports diversity
The kind of mentoring outlined above can play a key supporting role to women working in finance, but perhaps, even more so, if like myself they are working in finance within a technology context, where there are generally few female role models to help show the way.
I speak from personal experience. I wish I had had a mentor, or more specifically, a role model, when I was making my way into the corporate world and into finance. I wish I had been fortunate enough to have an experienced guide who had been through what I was about to go through, a voice of experience, someone in whom I could see ‘the future me’.
A mentor could have foreseen there would be “nice” but “chaotic” Monday mornings to deal with from actively participating in a family environment, something that a working mother has to embrace but I could still have the happiness of having a family and also a rewarding career.
A mentor could have taken me aside and said the reality is it’s going to be hectic but incredibly fulfilling. Mentors that can speak with the wisdom of experience have a vital role as guides to women in navigating the choppy waters of the corporate world.
Providing reassurance and support
Many women in finance face daunting challenges: from entrenched attitudes, and the inevitable ‘imposter syndrome’ that a lack of positive role models gives rise to.
Career breaks to build a family can also be challenging. Returning to the office after maternity leave, for example, can feel confusing and alienating when the business has gone through significant change. A mentor can help in providing support and reassurance, based on their own experience, and in highlighting the challenges they might face and solutions that might work. Going beyond even that, mentors can help give women in finance the confidence to believe: ‘It can be done, it is not a question of if, but when.’
An approach that works
The evidence suggests mentoring drives diversity by helping support women and minorities to achieve their business goals. Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations found that mentoring programmes boosted minority representation at the management level by 9% to 24% (compared to -2% to 18% with other diversity initiatives). The same study found that these programmes also dramatically improved promotion and retention rates for minorities and women - 15% to 38% as compared to non-mentored employees.
First steps on the road
I’d encourage women to come forward to mentor other women within a finance function or wider organisation and to reach out to their employers to support the facilitation of this. This could be done on an informal basis with the opportunity for regular check-ins between mentor and mentee, a review of progress, and an open discussion of progress and achievement. Simply by engaging with other women in the business in this way, we can take on the status of role model.
Monthly check-ins on progress across the entire initiative from both mentors and mentees could also be put in place. Benchmarking goals could be established, alongside regular check-ins to ensure they’re on track. A reverse mentoring relationship may even naturally evolve from these processes, enabling the mentor to also benefit from the knowledge and understanding of the mentee, which can help build leadership qualities.
Whatever the precise approach taken, an honest and genuine mentoring relationship will add tremendous value for women working in any finance or financial technology role. It is important for women to take the initiative and kick-start a mentoring process within their own business but both mentor and mentee should be confident in the knowledge that they are not alone in this endeavour.
Building a wider network
The retention of women also relies on networking. Across the industry, we are increasingly seeing groups and associations forming to promote the interests of women in finance, from the UK’s Women in Banking & Finance right through to the Financial Women’s Association, a New York-based network of female professionals from various sectors of the financial world. With the awareness that this kind of support is behind them, I am confident that more women working in finance will be encouraged into leadership roles.
Informal networking can be just as invaluable. Building a close group of women that can rely on one another is invaluable. With that, together with mentoring, both formal and informal, the numbers of those having long successful careers in this industry should increase, businesses would benefit from a gender-equal finance function, and we would see a significant increase in the retention of women in finance roles.
Approximately 82% of Americans supported paid maternity leave for mothers after a birth or adoption, according to a recent Pew research. Yet only 17% of working Americans are able to access paid parental leave today. While there has been some progress in promoting a balance between work and family life for female employees, there remains a lot to be done to support mothers to be in the workplace, particularly women in finance.
Your Earning Potential is Lower Both During Pregnancy and After Returning
Women in the American workforce are more educated than ever but continue to be underrepresented in the finance industry. Although the percentage of women in the financial industries is around 54.5%, there remains a significant gender gap which plays a large part in the decision of women working in finance on whether to take maternity leave. In fact, the motherhood penalty costs women around $16,000 in lost wages annually and 25% of women have to go back to work two weeks after giving birth to keep afloat financially.
Aside from taking maternity leave to prepare for the new arrival, some women leave earlier due to medical complications such as gestational diabetes and find themselves further financially vulnerable. The impact is felt not only medically but also financially due to time off being unpaid or paid at a significantly reduced rate. Considering almost 10% of pregnancies are diagnosed with gestational diabetes annually, the chances of women in finance having to deal with this are quite possible. Therefore, not only do women earn less while taking maternity leave but they are almost guaranteed to earn less than before pregnancy, and their male counterparts, meaning their family’s financial stability can be threatened.
Your Career Progression Trajectory Changes or Slows
For women looking to progress in finance, the 70-hour work weeks and full diaries can act as a deterrent against being selected for an executive-level job. In fact, the ‘Gender Diversity in the Financial Services Industry’ report by Mercer showed a significant decline in female representation as career levels rises in finance. Only 15% of women were represented at the executive level in finance, while only 26% of senior managers were female.
Thanks to factors such as the finance industry’s slow response to flexible working, women’s chances to achieve a better work-life balance are reduced and they tend to face an increased likelihood to be passed over for job promotions. Women with children also take longer to climb the ladder in the finance workplace as they juggle childcare hours and a demanding industry which means their earning brackets can remain unmoved for a longer time. Early starts and late nights required of many full-time jobs on Wall Street often means women in finance either have to rely on round the clock childcare or make the choice to go part-time.
Increased Pressure and Diminished Chances for Management Opportunities
Although 84% of employed Americans believe that having working mothers in leadership roles will boost the success rate of businesses, only a small% of women who have taken maternity leave will get the chance. Because of the negative association between women taking maternity leave and their commitment to the job, employers are more inclined to place these women in management positions within their company.
Published experiences by women working on Wall Street have shown that women tend to face increased pressure in trying to conceal their pregnancies for as long as possible, along with the constant pressure of when they plan to return (or whether they do plan to at all). For many firms on Wall Street, women are often offered six weeks of disability leave and end up losing not just pay equity but ground on progressing into the management realm.
Despite the well-publicized benefits of maternity leave including lower infant mortality rates and lower postnatal depression rates, support for women taking maternity leave in the finance industry continues to be woefully lacking. The choice to take time off to raise one’s child is repeatedly shown to have a higher cost for women, starting from the initial leave allowance rates and possibly defining the future of their careers. However, it is also important to recognize the progress made by financial firms like Deloitte, KPMG, and Bank of America. The support shown by these companies for mothers in finance can be a great starting point for the revolutionary change needed in the finance industry.
Since the first #MeToo Tweet in October 2017, men have been vilified by some as a generally pretty nasty bunch. In many small ways, this continues today. And if we don’t address it in the workplace, we’ll all suffer.
Let’s be clear. Some people deserve the criticism they’ve received, but many are just normal men who feel scared – and almost definitely annoyed at those acting incredibly badly. As a result, it can be tough for them to navigate the politics of gender equality in a workplace that has changed immeasurably in a relatively short amount of time.
We need to remember, the corporate world has been designed by men for men and it is certainly not your standard male employee or manager’s fault that there were no women in the first place. In fact, it was enshrined in law until 1944. Up until then, all women were prevented from working during peacetime when they married. This has cast a long shadow and while much has changed, many men feel under scrutiny owing to the actions of a minority. In fact, there’s often a palpable sense of threat among men. Rather than involving themselves in discussions about what’s gone on, many stay quiet and try to “keep out of trouble”.
But ignoring the truth doesn’t help. It allows the issue to fester. It creates divides. And ironically, it keeps women back. Why? Because this is not a battle between men and women. It’s a battle about whether a minority of men should be allowed to treat women badly in the workplace and abuse their power. We can’t allow a veil of silence to descend – especially when the system is already significantly skewed towards men.
But ignoring the truth doesn’t help. It allows the issue to fester. It creates divides. And ironically, it keeps women back.
If we just see this phenomenon as a binary male vs. female issue, the impact could be men ignoring and side-lining women who are already shown to be a minority in leadership. Worryingly, we’re already seeing this taking place. It’s become “safer” to employ a man than a woman. We’re going backwards!
The sooner we can openly talk about this – and empower men to do so – the quicker we can move past it, to everyone’s benefit. Yes, let’s call out bad behaviour when needed, but unless we all pull together, we’re not going to solve anything.
Achieving this can be a challenge, but it needn’t be complicated. It just requires a few simple actions that can help break the deadlock and allow everyone to progress. Obviously, the first step any organisation should take is to provide strong procedures to ensure harassment can be reported and dealt with. But once this is in place – and let’s face it, it really should be in every organisation’s HR policies by now – what next?
The second thing to do is to to get leadership to address the issue head-on. Male or female, whoever the leader of an organisation, they need to reflect on how women and men may be feeling, and instigate bridge-building where needed – for example, with unconscious bias training. When done well it can significantly improve awareness around the differences between men and women. This helps people to interact more efficiently and to build genuine, mutual empathy.
There also needs to be specific attention on male line managers of women. They need to understand the processes and policies in place, but this shouldn’t change how they interact. Specifically, men mustn’t feel scared of making mistakes in the way they work with female team members. This is an incredibly important point to make – as much for management as it is for employees. We cannot have a situation where men are reprimanded for talking openly about how they feel. We’ve seen examples of individuals losing their jobs for opening up. If we allow this to take hold, it’s clearly the women who will suffer as they become side-lined.
With more diversity in management, businesses are proven to be more innovative.
But perhaps the most important step businesses need to take is making the workplace more human. People shouldn’t have to worry about how to behave in the office. It’s vital everyone can have open, honest and human conversations and bring all of themselves to work and not leave the fun and empathetic side of themselves at home.
This can be achieved through simple techniques. A great place to start is consciously thinking about “how to be” at work, and not just on “what to do.” At the start of meetings, attendees can set ground rules about how everyone should interact. What would make their time together most effective? What does everyone need to bring to be their “best selves?” For example, explaining what they want the tone to be. Or what type of behaviour is needed. Or what each person might need to consider when contributing. These are little things, but if done consistently, they produce change at an organisational level and they will create an inclusive culture.
Finally, my brilliant colleague and co-founder of Shine for Women, Anna Baréz-Brown often gives people a pretty direct piece of advice – if in doubt, don’t do or say anything to a female colleague that you wouldn’t say if she was your boss. It sounds almost over-simplistic but then again, all the best ideas are the simple ones. And it makes sense. It’s all about respect.
If we can create this renewed feeling of collaboration and openness, then we can create businesses where women have the opportunities to thrive. And this isn’t just a matter of equality and diversity, it’s a matter of commercial sense.
With more diversity in management, businesses are proven to be more innovative[1]. Furthermore, companies with above-average diversity on their management teams also report revenue from innovation is nearly a fifth greater than those with below-average leadership diversity.
In conclusion, if #MeToo and Time’s Up have taught us anything, it’s that we need to have more open and transparent conversations at work. We need to make the office more human. We need to break down barriers, not build them up. We need to empower men just as much as women, and we need to do this quickly, cut through the corporate etiquette that frightens us and remember that this cannot be a man vs. woman issue.
Because men and women can energise one another by fuelling each other’s strengths. And because we’re better together.
About Caroline Whaley and Shine for Women:
Caroline Whaley is the Co-founder of Shine for Women, a human, refreshingly straight-talking and confidently optimistic career coaching organisation. She previously held senior global marketing positions at Nike and the Nike Foundation. Her clients now include ITV, Channel 4, EasyJet and WPP. Over 6,000 women from 75 nationalities have gone through the Shine for Women programme. Now in its fifth year, the business is on track to hit million-pound revenue in 2019.
For further information, please visit:
Website: https://www.shine4women.com/
[1] BCG, innovation and diversity study
According to Lucy Franklin, Managing Director of Accordance VAT, this is disappointing, and has prompted responses ranging from outrage about the results to despair about the process, with a healthy dose of weak excuses thrown in for good measure.
In the criticisms and reporting, we run the risk of getting mired in the process, not the impact. Gender Pay Gap reporting represents an immense opportunity to identify if and where there are issues within a business. Visibility is the first step towards progress – and the gender pay gap is an issue we need progress on.
That said, I know that adopting new reporting obligations can be onerous – finance is full of filing and submissions, and Accordance is no stranger to mandatory deadlines. But in this instance, the benefits outweigh the administrative burden. Gender pay gap reporting offers the potential to identify, at every level of a business, where inequalities lie. Whilst this may appear a redundant statement, the lack of progress in gender equality in the workplace over recent decades can attest to the necessity of an issue being recognised, being visible, and being acted on.
This is why Accordance has made the decision to publish our gender pay gap statistics, despite being well beneath the legal threshold for reporting. I want Accordance VAT to play a role in changing a historically male dominated sector. Finance and professional services companies boast a huge number of talented, bright, determined women. Many of these women have great careers in support functions, but those shouldn’t be the only avenues open to them. Financial and professional services organisations are unfortunately disproportionately dominated by men in the more senior positions, and this needs to change. Reporting on our Gender Pay Gap may not affect the systemic issues, but it is a step towards addressing inequality more widely as well as setting the bar for other businesses. We want to lead the way in our sector, and that means voluntarily putting ourselves forward, celebrating our successes where we find them but being the first to highlight where progress is needed.
Publishing our results is just the first step. Having identified that our mean pay gap sits at 12.8% and our median pay gap at -3.5%, we know that we’re doing better than some of our larger competitors in the sector, but we can do more. Publishing our figures shows our commitment to tackling this gap, as do the range of measures we have put in place around recruitment, training, job shadowing, and progression policies. These policies don’t just relate to gender diversity, but also diversity in terms of ethnicity, culture, physical ability, health and mental health.
Fundamentally, greater equality in our sector is about much more than just an improvement in statistics. Finance drives the world – and thus has a significant impact on how lives are led. We need to attract the best and the brightest minds shaping this future – and we need people from different walks of life with a seat at the table. Women need to be as key as men in determining the shape and course of finance, and how it affects economies and shared futures. Again, publishing our statistics cannot affect global trends and practices, but it does demonstrate our commitment to equality, and our determination to reshape the sector we work in.
I urge other businesses below the threshold to join us – to publish statistics for staff and for the wider world, and to identify where progress needs to be made. Reporting and publishing on the picture of an organisation offers an immense opportunity to recognise where problems are, and in doing so shape and improve them for the benefit of everyone. Equality requires commitment and a will to change, but the benefits of a more diverse workforce will be felt both in and outside of the financial and professional services sector.
A lack of access to finance is one of the major barriers facing women entrepreneurs in low-income communities. 80% of women owned businesses with credit needs are either unserved or underserved – a $1.7 trillion financing gap. By working with women on how to collectively save money, develop their business skills and facilitating access to affordable loans, CARE has seen an astounding uplift in success rates.
In Ethiopia, CARE has recently supported 5,000 women entrepreneurs in this way, resulting in an increase in their income of 500%. The programme supported women entrepreneurs from the slums of Addis Ababa to set up or expand their own businesses. Approximately 70% did not have any savings in the beginning of the project - this number was reduced to 3.6% when the project concluded three years later.
All data points in the same direction: investing in women’s economic empowerment is critical to unlock their economic and social potential. Women are shown to be stronger savers, more prudent borrowers and calculated risk-takers. Giving women better access to financial products and services could unlock $330 billion in annual global revenue.
CARE is therefore calling on the global financial sector to improve products and services for women. This will not only have a positive impact on individual women, but also their communities and, ultimately, national economies.
Through CARE’s ‘Access Approved’ campaign, women from Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast, Jordan and Peru share their stories on film for the first time, telling the banks what they think is needed to open up access to finance for women. These new films aim to bring the real issues to the fore, providing clear and personal recommendations to the financial sector including:
- Develop products and services that are specific to women’s needs (Martha from Peru)
- Offer alternative solutions to collateral requirements, such as loans based on savings group activities, and introduce loans with more flexible repayment terms (Jeanne from Ivory Coast)
- Train and employ more women within the financial industry (Sarojini from Sri Lanka and Bara’a from Jordan)
Women face all kinds of hidden barriers to accessing finance - just because they are women. Take Yeo Nakoni, a female vegetable farmer from the Ivory Coast: “I’ve worked this land now for 35 years, but the land doesn’t belong to me. In our community women don’t own land, it belongs to men.” This systemic inequality is then compounded when women try to access finances to grow their businesses: “When we go to the bank to ask for a loan, we’re denied because we have no collateral.”
Yeo is part of CARE’s Women in Enterprise Programme, supported by H&M Foundation, which has reached 133,000 women entrepreneurs globally since 2014. Yeo is a member of a savings group, based on CARE’s flagship Village Savings and Loans Association model. In her words: “This approach allowed us to strengthen our group spirit, savings and especially the repayment of loans taken out from the group. Every Sunday we each put in 500 francs (0.86 USD) and from that we are able to give each other loans. We repay our loans with interest, so our fund can grow. Within the group we can help each other. What we can do as a group, you can’t do by yourself.”
However, sometimes group members require larger loans and other financial products to meet their business needs. This is why CARE also supports savings groups to link safely to formal financial service providers. Thanks to CARE’s partnership with a local microfinance provider, Yeo was able to take out a low-interest loan of around 2,500 USD to expand her enterprise. She is now confidently repaying her loan and she is extremely proud of what she has achieved.
Laurie Lee, Chief Executive, CARE International UK comments: “Investing in women entrepreneurs is not just the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do. Women represent an enormous untapped market for financial institutions and we want to work with them to open up new opportunities. This makes business sense for both financial institutions and the women we support.”
Women in banking face a ‘double glass ceiling’; one when being promoted to management and another when being promoted to executive roles, according to new research from the SKEMA Business School Observatory on the Feminisation of Companies.
Although women make up 52% of banking sector employees globally, they average only 38% of middle managers and 16% of executive committees.
These are the findings of Professor Michel Ferrary’s ‘Gender Diversity in the Banking Industry’ report, which examined the female representation of 71 banks in 20 countries.
He said: “Women have long faced discrimination at work, yet what we are witnessing in the global banking sector is a ‘double glass ceiling’ effect, where of the 38% of women reaching middle management, far fewer are able to ascend again to executive roles.
“There are a number of possible reasons for this trend. Firstly, unconscious bias can be at work when men choose not to promote women. However, this seems like a lazy generalisation. One other industry theory that is arising is that women are more reluctant to put themselves up for executive positions, and so are losing out. Whichever is true, it is clear that women face discrimination throughout the entirety of their careers in banking.”
Boards of directors are more feminised than executive committees globally, usually due to government-imposed diversity quotas.
Ferrary said: “Scholars know that employing women on boards is beneficial to banks as it helps to mitigate risk. Studies unanimously show that women are less likely to gamble with assets and were noticeably absent from the worst offending firms during the 2008 financial crash. This is one of the reasons why many countries impose gender quotas on the boards of their prominent banks.
“Yet there are cultural disparities at a global level. For example, although banks in countries like Canada, France and Sweden, where the level of women on boards is 45%, score highly in this category, it is worth noting that Japan only boasts 12% of women on its boards of directors. This can often be explained by the cultural expectations of women and their distribution in the country’s workforce as a whole.”
(Source: Bluesky PR)
Sopra Banking Software uncover why it is that men still dominate senior positions in Tech and why men are out-earning women, even in equal positions.
The UK gender pay gap won’t close until 2069 unless measures are taken to combat it now. That’s another 53 years that women will continue to pay a higher price for being female.
A study by McKinsey Global Institute found that in an ideal scenario, where female roles are identical to those of men, “as much as $28 trillion, or 26%, could be added to the global annual GDP by 2025.”
Gender Disparity in the Workplace
Laura Parsons, Senior Manager at Deloitte, shares these findings: Last year, girls outperformed boys in every science, technology, engineering and mathematics subject, and even though innumerable top-paid jobs demand capabilities in STEM subjects - 70% of women in the UK with a STEM qualification aren’t working in compatible fields.
What is it that pushes women out of these industries, and how do we secure them from entry level to senior positions, and offer support in pursuit of entrepreneurial ventures?
Unsurprisingly, McKinsey Global Institute found that 38% of women in the technology field feel that gender discrimination staggers growth and chances for progressing their career in the future. 60% of these women attribute not wanting to be a top executive to excessive stress and pressure. Of all the fields researched, these figures were among the highest.
Melissa North, head of human resources at Sopra Banking, shares: “Businesses are not taking adequate measures to ensure women feel they have the reassurance to pursue a work-life balance, including starting a family - and therefore women don’t succeed long term. Feeling like they must compromise having a family to have a career is one of the leading reasons women don’t stick around to get moved into leadership roles.”
Pip Wilson, entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of amicableapps, adds: “Ultimately, the thing that will completely level the playing field is an even split between men and women in childcare.”
As a parent, Pip Wilson shared the domestic workload with her husband to be able to focus on the success of her business ventures. This often meant her husband would stay home while she worked, and vice versa.
Something as simple as employers providing or supporting childcare initiatives for employees could prove to be one of the most important incentives for females in the workplace.
Tech: A Growing Sector for Women
Entrepreneurs and business women, such as Melinda Gates, wife of businessman and philanthropist Bill, see the value of using tech to their advantage: “To me, the tech industry is one of the best places to work right now. If I was working again, I would work in biological science or tech or a combination of both. Every company needs technology, and yet we’re graduating fewer women technologists. That is not good for society. We have to change it”.
Women should view this as the best time to enter the tech market: more people are graduating from tertiary levels than ever before, and women are outperforming men in STEM subjects.
As businesses become aware of what this lack of gender representation means for their overall success, the more women will become empowered to hold positions they didn’t before.
It’s tough to identify whether the gender bias is due to subconscious views during the recruitment process, or from the ongoing cycle that sees women receiving lower pay and fewer promotions, thus resulting in women keeping themselves placed below men through these continuous actions. The social constructs for gender roles will take time to be broken down.
There is good news for women, however. Studies show that those who ask for the same salary as men, in the same role, tend to get offers in line with what they are asking.
What Should the Workplace Look Like?
Take gaming for example: Women make up only 22% of game developers, yet represent 50% of the people who play video games.
As a business woman and consumer, Pip Wilson believes that people inside your company need to reflect the people you’re trying to serve.
Businesses need to recognise the responsibility they have to women and gender equality in the workplace, but also the possible benefits that come with hiring from a larger pool of talent, that includes women:
- Increased labour supply
- Higher incomes
- Productivity gains
- Reduced poverty in developing countries
- A unique angle and approach to problems, due to a different atmosphere cultivated by women
Once a culture of diversity has been adopted and is naturally functioning, there will be a good discrimination in place – one that filters and keeps only the best for the job, regardless of gender.
How Companies Can Address the Gender Disparity:
- Provide practical career insights to educators and policymakers
- Create more support for women returning to work
- Share detailed information on the gender pay gap with employees and the public
Melissa North, Head of HR at Sopra Banking Software adds that networking is important, “Having a belief and not doubting yourself is important as a woman climbing the business ladder as well as making yourself visible to other women in the industry and talking about your struggles. Not chasing your dreams of going into a new field because of commitments attached to gender shouldn’t hold you back.”
Tips for Women in Tech:
Talk to others: Fight the temptation to ‘do it yourself’, and get help and advice from wherever you can
Find mentors and those who have been in your shoes before: male or female
Use tech to your advantage: A study done by Accenture details how mobile tech has made it easier than ever to balance work and home life. Exploit the connectedness, making use of mobile apps and cloud services. A successful business no longer requires a 9-to-5 in an office
Have confidence and trusting your abilities: Many women tend to believe they fall short in the skills needed to thrive in business. A lack of confidence means avoiding intimidating tasks or new disciplines, more so than some men, who are more likely to try
At a time when the tech industry and business overall is dominated by males, women should take this opportunity to get a head start in whatever they want to achieve, using the various tools available in a changing world. Businesses should recognise this as an opportunity to empower women, and to attract the best new talent, regardless of gender – as it’s crucial to growth.
(Source: Sopra Banking)
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