While there was some progress in addressing the gender gap this past year, there was still work to be done with regards to the historically male dominated finance industry in Australia.
A diversity survey by the Financial Services Council (FSC) in November found that women on average make up only 27% of investment teams, a 2% increase from last year’s survey. It also recorded that most of its global and domestic fund manager members surveyed (95%) were actively tracking gender diversity statistics within their organisation and investment management teams.
Data from the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) in March, collated in light of International Women’s Day, showed women made up some 9.5% of board chair roles and 6.5% of chief executive roles across the top ASX200 companies in 2022.
They also occupied more than 36% of board seats in the ASX 50 and almost 35% of seats in the ASX 200.
According to the figures from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) scorecard in February, financial and insurance services reported a pay gap of 29.5%, second only to construction (30.6%).
It was found that men were twice as likely to be earning more than $120,000 while women were 50% more likely than men to be in the bottom quartile, those earning $60,000 or less.
Despite the grim figures, however, it appeared slow and steady progress was made this year.
In the WGEA scorecard, financial services also recorded the second-largest reduction in the pay gap of the 19 industries surveyed, reducing the gap by more than 1 percentage point every year since 2013.
There were also some gender gap improvements in board leadership (+0.8 points) in the September quarter, per the Financy Women’s Index (FWX).
A November panel by Women in Super highlighted noteworthy contributions to addressing gender equality in the 2022-23 Budget, such as removing the $450 threshold for superannuation, extending Paid Parental Leave (although it does not include superannuation payments), and a $1.7 billion investment to address gender-based violence.
Early career programs like Accelerate by Future IM / Pact were notable pay gap initiatives this year, most recently supported by Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC) and CFA Societies Australia in April. The program intends to create a talent pool of women with two to five years’ experience in feeder roles such as investment banking, management consulting and corporate finance.
Existing initiatives like F3 Future Females in Finance also continued its efforts through programs panel sessions and work placements for school and university students to learn about the different types of roles in the financial services industry.
According to research by HESTA super fund, such efforts could provide companies with an edge in acquiring female talent in a tight job market. Its analysis in June of Seek’s Laws of Attraction research found that when focusing on company reputation as a driver of attraction, almost three quarters (73%) of Gen Z women (aged 18-25) said workplace diversity was a must.
