“In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
International Women’s day was first celebrated in 1910 during an International Socialist Women’s conference in Denmark. The main purpose of this day is for women to bring awareness to the gender inequalities that still exist across the world, but to also celebrate how far they have come.
So, what does international women’s day mean today? The theme for international women’s day in 2022 is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, meaning that we need to give women the opportunity to be included and lead the conversations around global and national laws and policies. It follows the idea that the sooner everyone from diverse backgrounds and experiences are able to get involved, the sooner we will be able to reach a solution.
Believe it or not, for the past two years there have been more fund managers called Dave than the total amount of women in the role. However, this year there has been a major breakthrough, with female fund managers totalling 11%, compared to 3% of Dave’s. One of the reasons for this advance is thought to be the ability to work from home. Women are no longer being forced to choose between progressing in their career and being available to help with their families.
In the past 5 years, there have been an increasing number of women seeking financial advice. Although previously women were seen to take on less risk with their investments (potentially due to the fact they were more likely to be steered towards more conservative, low risk/low growth options) they are now changing this narrative and taking their finances into their own hands. They want to be less dependent on their husbands/partners in terms of money for their future, and want to build and maintain financial security of their own. This will have huge benefits for women as they are already at a disadvantage; women live longer than men but statistically earn less, meaning they need to find ways to make their money last longer.
There is lots of research pointing towards the benefits of businesses actively pursuing a commitment to gender diversity, as companies with greater gender diversity perform better. Mckinsey’s research has shown that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 21% more likely to outperform less diverse teams on profitability. Financial services need diversity to generate fresh ideas and perspectives, and to lead in establishing new trends. To achieve gender equality in finance, the financial services industry must do more to help women join companies, stay in their jobs and have the opportunity to be promoted to leadership roles.
Written by: Jemma Long
08 March 2022
Copyright © 2022 | All rights reserved.
Ascot Wealth Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority reference number 551744.
Ascot Wealth Management Limited is a registered limited company. Company Number: 07428369
