Gender inequality continues in financial services
Many financial services workers believe gender discrimination still exists in financial services, with less pay and opportunities for women.
Around two thirds of more than 300 respondents in the recent eFinancialCareers Diversity Survey said their firm does not have a gender diversity program in place.
Almost two thirds said gender discrimination still exists within the industry - but this increased to 84 per cent in female respondents, of whom four in 10 said they had experienced it personally.
Half said women are not equally represented at senior levels in their company, and seven in 10 thought females were not equally represented on their company board. More than half said there is a gender gap in income in the industry.
Almost half thought the gender gap in financial services was unlikely to improve in the next five years.
Asked if a clear gender diversity policy was important for companies, just over half of women said it was and just over half of men were not concerned either way. Mentorship and sponsorship, cultural change, transparency in remuneration structure and flexible working arrangements were cited as desirable policies by women.
"Financial services have traditionally been a bastion of male dominance, so it's essential for firms to have clear, established gender diversity policies in place for the entire industry to move forward and become a more attractive proposition for women to work in," said eFinancialCareers managing director Asia Pacific, George McFerran.
"Gender discrimination is still a very real issue for financial services. Women are clearly saying they want to see gender diversity programs in place, and those programs are seen as very attractive in an employer," he said.
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