Sustainability Community

Hello Community!
Yesterday I was watching a series on Netflix, called "The Hour" depicting the rise of great news and how things were at BBC 40-50 years ago. It was a mens' world where women at senior positions were rare. Where men made comments on how pretty they or their blouses were and most of the women were secretaries. One of the main characters is a woman who gets a senior position of a political news programme producer and it is fascinating to see how things worked back then. I feel that the world is getting so much better for women in all walks of life, still lots of work to do, but I am optimistic!

And then today I saw this amazing and inspiring presentation from Sheree Howard, Executive Director, Authorisations, FCA delivered in April 2024. Sheree is sharing her own journey and how she succeeded and why it is rewarding to invest in women.

Two quotes that appealed to me especially:

"All of us in the savings, retirement income and advisory markets should ask ourselves whether we are genuinely considering the specific needs of women in relation to pensions, savings and investment. Are we doing enough to consider the product mix and is the level of innovation sufficient to adequately serve women?"

"So what is the first step in creating a healthy culture in your organisation? One thing I have taken from being a parent that I would implore other managers to do is to listen. In fact, not just listen – but hear. And at times, try to forget that you are a manager and do this as a fellow human if an employee shares a personal story. Responding as a human first, line manager second, will make you a better leader. Many of us in managerial positions often leap in to offer advice, but sometimes it just pays to listen and think before acting. This is the first step in creating psychological safety that is crucial for helping colleagues speak up."

I hope you will enjoy reading it!

Highlights

• FCA's Financial Lives Survey finds more women than men are struggling to cope financially.
• To attract and retain women in financial services, we need to make sure the culture works for all.
• Whether we are parents or policy makers, advisers or consumers, we can all play our part in tackling the wealth gap.
• Advice Guidance Boundary review and our thematic work on investments advice will help industry to better support investors, including women

Share your thoughts here!

Thank you for sharing such pertinent questions @Aya Pariy. 

In my experience, true gender equity can be achieved when we value the work that doesn't feed into GDP. Society cannot function without caring for our young, our old or creating a safe home. 

Some random, small ways to achieve this behemoth change is having genuinely curious discussions with different cultures around how the average human body is measured when designing safety features, protecting public space for all to feel able to use it and maybe even establishing pension for any non-financial (non-GDP) contributions to society. 

Have members noticed specific benefits from improving inclusivity? 

Thanks for the great posts Aya and Anita. I came across an FT article on the same subject and I agree less women in senior roles contributes to the wealth gap.

The FT article references the FTSE Women Leaders Review which tracks female representation on boards and senior roles. It suggests that in more than 80% of top 350 UK listed companies not more than 40% of females are in executive leadership roles. The article points out some of the reasons behind this trend. First of all, the number of women promoted to manager levels from entry level is low relative to males. This naturally reduces the pool of females who can progress to executive roles. 

Moreso, the article also points out some of the obstacles to progression faced by females, mainly the biases in hiring and promotion where female competence is underestimated, females getting less pay than men for the same role and men's stereotypical advantages for certain roles. Another interesting point is some female candidates tend not apply for these roles based on the belief that they do not have the required qualifications while men in most cases do not hesitate try even without the listed qualifications. Career breaks due to maternity and other responsibilities can also impact their career progression.

The few who manage to overcome these hurdles and make it into management roles have further challenges to overcome too. Female leaders may suffer from less credibility relative to male counterparts and have to do more to prove competence. The article also says they are also quicker to be judged for failure and punished for mistakes. And the need to act as a role model to other females also weighs on them.

As a result, they have fairly short tenures compared to male counterparts.

Inititiatives have emerged to try and improve females in top jobs including awareness campaigns, mentorship and sponsorship programs and support networks within and outside workplaces.

Here is the link:

https://www.ft.com/content/0caa9038-9750-4e87-b845-48b0f3ee8502

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Confidence Mafoti
Portfolio Manager
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