International Women's Day: Gender Equity in Financial Services

This International Women's Day, Coopman are embracing equity. Gender equity is a known issue globally, across all walks of life, including professional life. As experts in financial services, we are going to discuss this as it pertains to the industry, and the steps to achieving equity across your company.

According to Deloitte's 2022 global report "Advancing more women leaders in financial services", within financial services institutions, women held 21% of board seats, 19% of C-suite roles, and 5% of CEO positions in 2021. In Ireland, progress is being made, with female board-level applications from 22% in 2020 to 28% in 2021, as per IBEC's Ireland's Women in Finance Charter.

Despite this progress, there is a clear disparity in equity between females and males in the financial services industry.?

Make your recruitment process more inclusive.

Every individual holds unconscious bias to some degree, and the subject of gender equity can be just one area where people hold such biases. Unconscious bias refers to associations that are made by a person towards another, or to a group of people who have different qualities or fit within a social bracket. This may be subject to their race, gender, or religion, and are made without conscious thinking and can be a major contributor to a lack of workplace diversity if not recognised and addressed.

Methods to rectify this include using gender-neutral language in job descriptions and candidate anonymity to prevent unconscious bias from influencing the recruitment process. At Coopman, we are available to support you in achieving an inclusive recruitment process.

Support mothers & mothers-to-be.

The glass ceiling exists and can majorly impact women who choose to have children, as well as women of childbearing age, who may be overseen for hiring or promotion prospects. For women returning from maternity leave or a career, break, it is imperative to provide the necessary skills and tools to ensure their smooth transition back to the workplace, and support them in reaching their progression goals.

Moreover, when an employee has returned from maternity leave, support can be provided through Employee Resource Groups for working mothers in the company. This can help a woman returning to work to feel more connected and avoid feeling isolated, by having an outlet to share experiences and concerns.

Finally, being a new mother may have new needs, and easing into the change from looking after a newborn to returning to work can be a very difficult time. Ensuring they have the necessary resources to work from home, providing flexi-time, and specific areas within the office to pump will support this transition.

Make diversity part of your succession planning.

84% of revenue-generating roles, including CEO positions, are held by men, highlighting the stark underrepresentation of females at the top-tier board level. These wrongs will not be merely rewritten by appointing a female CEO to showcase inclusivity; gender equity must be a crucial aspect of your succession planning, to ensure females continue to have the opportunity and resources to support their progression to such roles from the time of joining. This will lead to a greater diversity of thought, experience, and leadership styles in decision-making processes, for the economic benefit of the business and the wider community as a whole.