At the start of February, Responsible Investor launched the second edition of our Women in Finance survey.
With the help of our readers and market participants, we wanted to understand the progress – or lack of it – on female representation and inclusion in the financial sector and where action still needs to be taken.
We were delighted to receive 264 responses – more than three times as many as last year – with just over three-quarters coming from asset managers, asset owners and banks.
Asset managers had the biggest say, making more than half of respondents. More than 95 percent of responses came from women, and nearly half from senior members of the industry.
Last year’s survey painted a sobering picture of the position of women in the financial sector, suggesting that there is still a long way to go to achieve equity and inclusion.
Key issues flagged included parental leave and caring responsibilities, the ‘old boys’ club’ and career progression.
We used the input from the 2023 survey to create this year’s edition. It posed 14 quantitative questions covering the issues raised last year, and also offered the opportunity to provide qualitative feedback on positive or negative developments within respondents’ organisations.
The results are a mixed bag. While there are hints of progress, it is clear that structural changes are not taking place as quickly as they should be. Overall, the message is that the industry is hiding behind a DE&I facade, as opposed to making real efforts to change.
Thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s survey. We will be running it on an annual basis to gauge the pace of change across the financial sector on women’s issues, and using the results to inform our coverage of DE&I in the industry.
Culture
The results of this year’s survey suggest that, while financial institutions may appear to be inclusive employers that value diversity, scratching beneath the surface reveals a very different story.
More than half of respondents said their organisation promotes inclusive language and behaviour, with 40 percent reporting a good DE&I policy, and one-third confirming their workplace conducts an internal DE&I survey.
However, a similar proportion of respondents reported experiencing non-inclusive language or behaviour in their organisation.
One asset management employee noted that sexist comments made by senior men are allowed to persist, while women are punished for speaking up.
Another said that women in their organisation receive “deeply inappropriate and personal feedback” from male line managers, including suggestions to “be less tired/emotional” or even dress differently.
On the policy side, more than 40 percent said their company DE&I policy is not effectively implemented, and more than 60 percent reported that their employer is not transparent on pay equity for women.
One respondent from an asset manager flagged poor transparency on pay and no defined career progression opportunities for women.
Another reported that most mid-level women they know in the industry are considering changing where they work, or leaving the sector altogether.
Perhaps even more alarmingly, 44 percent of asset managers and 41 percent of asset owners said they feel gender is a barrier to their progression in the organisation.
One woman from an asset manager put it bluntly: “I don’t feel like there is any way that I could progress in this organisation due to gender.”
Another suggested that white men at their asset management firm take credit for other people’s ideas and “thrive at the expense of – usually – female colleagues, where they see ‘picking our brains’ as a shortcut”.
Family-work balance
Poor parental leave and childcare policies were flagged as one of the biggest barriers to career progression and retention in RI’s 2023 survey, a finding that was reinforced in our deep dive on the “motherhood penalty” costing women their investment careers.
This year’s results saw hints of progress on family-work balance, but also flagged some new issues that have arisen from more inclusive policies.
More than 50 percent of respondents said their employer takes work and family balance into consideration, and nearly 60 percent praised their organisation for having a good parental leave and caring policy in place.
Multiple respondents reported equal parental leave options, increased paid maternity leave, and better family policies.
One asset manager highlighted a positive experience with her male bosses, who respected her needs as a new mother on her return to work.
But has the industry really turned the tide on this issue?
Despite the improved policies, several respondents said men are still not taking their full paternity leave.
Disappointingly, one asset owner employee also flagged a trend of men taking their full parental leave entitlement and consequently missing out on promotions or being held back by other senior executive men – a pattern that has long affected women’s careers.
An asset manager respondent said she feared her return to the office after having a child will “impede” her career growth, and that she would be viewed as a “troublemaker” for asking for more flexibility or standing up for herself.
While asset managers might “talk the talk”, it is “blatantly obvious” that they still have an issue with promoting and hiring women who are in the 29-34 age bracket as they assume they will soon take parental leave, another commented.
As one asset manager put it: “While I agree that motherhood carries a penalty, I think this potentially masks the reality of structural disadvantage, irrespective of whether women have families.”
Representation
As ever, lack of senior female representation was a key issue that emerged from the survey results.
Nearly half of respondents do not think their organisation has good representation of women at the senior management level. More than half of asset managers, one-third of asset owners and 45 percent of bankers flagged this as a problem.
One banking respondent said, as long as there are one or two women represented in a mostly male leadership team, “there’s a sense the work is done”.
Several people testified to a failure to promote and hire women in top management, adding that the skills required for a senior role typically play to traditionally masculine traits and strengths.
Talent pipeline and retention has long been a concern and area of focus for the industry to try to improve gender imbalances at the top.
But while 40 percent of overall respondents said their employer is trying to recruit more women, more than 40 percent of asset managers and asset owners said their employer makes no efforts to promote women internally.
Multiple respondents flagged senior women leaving their organisations, and mentioned a lack of effort to ensure the promotion of women into the senior management pipeline, proving that the industry still has a long way to go.
