Introducing the Industry Moves Hot Topics Panel - Where are the women?
In Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Facebook chief operating officer Cheryl Sandberg says: "Success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively for women. When a man is successful, he is liked by both men and women. When a woman is successful, people of both genders like her less." It's an outrageous statement but the reason it is so shocking is because, at least partly, it could be true - and might be one of the reasons why there are so few women at management level in financial services.
We've asked four people across the industry - Joanna Davison of FEAL, Jon Glass of the University of Sydney, Damian Moloney of Frontier Advisors and Kate Mulligan of King Irving Consulting - to join our Industry Moves Hot Topics Panel and give their reasons for women's low representation in the industry, along with solutions to fix it. Their answers are diverse and wide-ranging and some of them might surprise you.
CEO, Fund Executives Association Limited
Why aren't there more women in financial services?
It's due to a variety of issues. At junior levels I don't believe it is a major problem but the old story of wanting to work flexibly or part time due to having a family appears to reduce women's ability to progress up the corporate ladder despite protestations of equal opportunities. Unconscious bias is alive and well! The recent work published by the Sex Discrimination Office and spoken of by Elizabeth Broderick shows that 1 in 2 women have suffered from discrimination around pregnancy/maternity leave and return to work. It is not until there is more than one woman sitting at the senior executive table that behaviours change.
What can we do to change it?
Good question. After over 30 years in financial services I sometimes wonder! Things are better than there were but ... I think we just have to keep pushing, asking questions, not accepting the status quo, finding "Champions of change" as Liz Broderick has, calling out bad behaviour and working on our sons as well as our daughters to make it happen! I recently spoke to a group of Honours students in the Finance school at UTS. There were amazed to hear that on average women earn 17% less than men and all of them (including the men) were angry about it. I am not in favour of quotas but pointing out the right to work flexibly is something I am sure a lot of organisations are unaware of.
Investment Consultant , University of Sydney, Investment Capital and Management
Why aren't there more women in financial services?
The question of under-representation of women is more about certain aspects of the industry such as portfolio management and some investment functions. I don't think we need to have this concern in the so-called back and middle office roles, where women are quite well represented. So what can we do in order to make these front office jobs more attractive to women?
What can we do to change it?
One approach to this could be to highlight some psychological and emotional aspects of investing that are typically ignored in the calculus of moneymaking, but that are crucial in these investment and portfolio roles. A word that is not talked about enough is collaboration. Is this a female trait? I don't know. Is it lacking in the industry? Yes. Is it important? Most certainly. By emphasising collaboration as a part of the investment and portfolio functions we might attract more women to the industry.
Chief executive officer, Frontier Advisors Pty Ltd
Why aren't there more women in financial services?
It's an issue that is puzzling us and one that we are actively trying to resolve. For example, Frontier's last three recruitments had long lists of 21 legitimate applicants, only five of which were women. A few things seem to be impacting this. First, the proportion of women in tertiary finance courses seems to have reduced in recent years (e.g. local MBAs now have fewer women enrolled, and a smaller number of these have a finance focus than was the case historically). Second, the banks now tend to have gender targets or quotas and quickly recruit available female talent, so the CVs aren't getting through to us. Third, it is a bit self-fulfilling in that firms with fewer women can develop a culture that is not such a good fit for women.
What could be done to fix it?
We need to better promote financial services as a great career for women at the tertiary and high school level. Firms also need a closer and sharper focus on culture, and identify where we unconsciously make the work environment a poor fit for women. Women need to feel welcomed into the sector and comfortable with the working environment. As the banks are showing, quotas can also work - as long as merit is also a key decision criterion in recruitment.
Managing Director, King Irving Consulting Group
Why aren't there more women in financial services?
From my perspective there are far more women in financial services than ever before, and particularly compared to when I started my career in the industry. So that's a very positive development. Driving it is, I think, an awareness of the power of diversity on better corporate decision making: so whether it's a board, or an executive or a management team, there is a growing understanding that diversity in gender and experience and background will ensure the best decision making outcomes. This has come out of hard data and the experience of having women involved at all levels of organisations. So, it is a virtuous circle - the more women who enter the industry, the more the benefits can be tangibly experienced at the front line, reinforcing the decision making process that has women as an integral part of our industry.
What could be done to fix it?
Flexibility in the work place is obviously a huge issue. Also flexibility on a personal level, so that conversations can be had within partnerships and families about models outside the traditional role of women as the primary care giver. I know of many men who would really like to, and do, undertake that role really well, which frees up their partner to more fully participate in the workplace.
That being said, the reality is that the bulk of the burden of child rearing still falls on women, so providing solutions built on flexible engagement by employers with their female employees will, I believe, have the biggest impact, and give women the encouragement to 'lean in'.
We'll be asking our panel similar thought-provoking questions over the coming weeks. Let us know if there is a question you'd like to ask - [email protected].
