Let’s start with the reasons why women have little to no representation in leadership in the banking world, and then follow up with how to intervene in the banking sector to bring parity.
The number of women in finance is not changing as quickly as it has historically. Women lead only 13% of the world’s top banks. Despite this, there is still a need to achieve gender parity in leadership positions. This blog post examines how we can start to bridge this gap.
– what the current statistics are;
– why it may be more difficult to represent more women in leadership positions;
– what factors play into this issue;
– Finally, some advice for moving forward with these goals, including strategies for personal development and industry mentoring programs.
1. Current statistics in banking
The World Economic Forum identifies that only 13% of the global top-tier financial institutions are women. The US is in the top 10 countries with the highest percentage of women in leadership positions, 17%. Australia, Canada, and Israel are also among the top 20 countries.
The Financial Times (FT) reports that in 2015, there were 17% female directors on FTSE 100 boards and 12% on Fortune 500 boards. This compared to 19% in 2009 and 15% in 2013. Globally there is an overall increase from 20% to 23%. However, in the US, there was a fall from 14% to 12%.
The percentage of women in the finance industry with CFO or COO titles is around 11%. This includes specialist roles that include insurance, finance, and accounting.
2. Why it may be more difficult to represent more women in leadership positions
Some of the reasons for this are:
A lack of obvious role models.
Women in leadership positions tend to be less visible to the public than their male counterparts.
Stereotypes.
There is still a tendency for people to link leadership roles with stereotypical masculine qualities such as competitiveness, confidence, and strength. This may make women more hesitant to self-promote and put themselves forward for roles they qualify for.
Glass Ceiling Effect.
Men are more likely to be promoted into executive positions than women, irrespective of performance or qualification.
Reluctance to Raise Voice.
Women are less likely to speak up in the workplace and have less confidence speaking in public, even leading a meeting of colleagues.
Underperformance.
The perception is that women perform worse than their peers in roles such as finance and accounting due to the lack of female role models with these types of responsibilities.
Lateral as opposed to upward mobility.
These industries tend to promote people based on their job title rather than the experience they have gained from moving through roles via lateral mobility.
3. What factors play into this issue
Many factors influence how women are represented in leadership positions. These factors include:
Stereotypes.
Women need to be aware that it is not “unladylike” to be assertive, especially for women in leadership roles. It may be more attractive for a woman to demonstrate confidence and leadership in speaking, dressing, and carrying herself. This may also lead to greater respect from men and colleagues, particularly if those women model these behaviors themselves.
Space for opportunity
. There need to be clear management initiatives by senior decision-makers within companies that actively promote the recruitment of women into leadership positions – either internally or externally through external quotas or partnerships with other industries or professional associations.
Favoritism.
There is no point in striving for a GNC position if staff, especially the male staff, are not supportive of this. Women will tend to be more comfortable with certain positions than others, and their priority is often based on this perception that they can do more for the company in those roles.
Awareness and conscious leadership styles.
Much of what is discussed in this article also applies to men – such as communication styles, managing relationships, and working together to achieve organizational goals. However, men seem to be less aware that they need to promote women’s strengths rather than doing things “their way,” which may have worked well in the past, but the organization has evolved into a more complex environment.
4. Advice for moving forward with these goals that include strategies for personal development and industry mentoring programs.
The key is to promote women through the organization and then provide them with mentoring opportunities outside of the workplace, providing them networking opportunities that include women leaders within the industry.
– Attract women through your marketing.
This involves changing “your” culture to a more inclusive one in which people feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves and feel supported. To do this, you need to actively seek out female talent and develop a high-level pipeline within your organization.
– Ensure transparent communication between leadership teams and both genders
You need to demonstrate clearly how the organization is conforming to GNC goals and appointing women into leadership positions without negatively impacting men.
– Provide career development opportunities.
Create women’s networks where there is an opportunity to learn, network, and share
knowledge with those who have a similar background.
– Create leadership opportunities within an industry that they are passionate about
. This may be through mentoring programs or starting their own business in the industry.
-Encourage more women to become finance executives by introducing more female role models into the workforce; this may be starting with younger staff members and creating core team members who are drawn from different backgrounds and include both genders.
-Promote women to join the boardroom. Even if an organization has a quota of female board members, it is important to promote female candidates into senior roles within the company, particularly in areas that can influence decisions, such as finance and accounting.
– Promote gender diversity across your entire organization. If you are promoting women into leadership positions in finance, then ensure that there are other females in senior roles around them to support and provide advice on issues such as career development, working together as a team, managing conflicts, and handling pressure situations.
– Plan for succession planning by making sure that there are opportunities for younger staff members who may need advice from these leaders on how to progress from junior roles and onto more senior ones.
Let’s start with the reasons why women have little to no representation in leadership in the banking world, and then follow up with how to intervene in the banking sector to bring parity.
The number of women in finance is not changing as quickly as it has historically. Women lead only 13% of the world’s top banks. Despite this, there is still a need to achieve gender parity in leadership positions. This blog post examines how we can start to bridge this gap.
– what the current statistics are;
– why it may be more difficult to represent more women in leadership positions;
– what factors play into this issue;
– Finally, some advice for moving forward with these goals, including strategies for personal development and industry mentoring programs.
1. Current statistics in banking
The World Economic Forum identifies that only 13% of the global top-tier financial institutions are women. The US is in the top 10 countries with the highest percentage of women in leadership positions, 17%. Australia, Canada, and Israel are also among the top 20 countries.
The Financial Times (FT) reports that in 2015, there were 17% female directors on FTSE 100 boards and 12% on Fortune 500 boards. This compared to 19% in 2009 and 15% in 2013. Globally there is an overall increase from 20% to 23%. However, in the US, there was a fall from 14% to 12%.
The percentage of women in the finance industry with CFO or COO titles is around 11%. This includes specialist roles that include insurance, finance, and accounting.
2. Why it may be more difficult to represent more women in leadership positions
Some of the reasons for this are:
A lack of obvious role models.
Women in leadership positions tend to be less visible to the public than their male counterparts.
Stereotypes.
There is still a tendency for people to link leadership roles with stereotypical masculine qualities such as competitiveness, confidence, and strength. This may make women more hesitant to self-promote and put themselves forward for roles they qualify for.
Glass Ceiling Effect.
Men are more likely to be promoted into executive positions than women, irrespective of performance or qualification.
Reluctance to Raise Voice.
Women are less likely to speak up in the workplace and have less confidence speaking in public, even leading a meeting of colleagues.
Underperformance.
The perception is that women perform worse than their peers in roles such as finance and accounting due to the lack of female role models with these types of responsibilities.
Lateral as opposed to upward mobility.
These industries tend to promote people based on their job title rather than the experience they have gained from moving through roles via lateral mobility.
3. What factors play into this issue
Many factors influence how women are represented in leadership positions. These factors include:
Stereotypes.
Women need to be aware that it is not “unladylike” to be assertive, especially for women in leadership roles. It may be more attractive for a woman to demonstrate confidence and leadership in speaking, dressing, and carrying herself. This may also lead to greater respect from men and colleagues, particularly if those women model these behaviors themselves.
Space for opportunity
. There need to be clear management initiatives by senior decision-makers within companies that actively promote the recruitment of women into leadership positions – either internally or externally through external quotas or partnerships with other industries or professional associations.
Favoritism.
There is no point in striving for a GNC position if staff, especially the male staff, are not supportive of this. Women will tend to be more comfortable with certain positions than others, and their priority is often based on this perception that they can do more for the company in those roles.
Awareness and conscious leadership styles.
Much of what is discussed in this article also applies to men – such as communication styles, managing relationships, and working together to achieve organizational goals. However, men seem to be less aware that they need to promote women’s strengths rather than doing things “their way,” which may have worked well in the past, but the organization has evolved into a more complex environment.
4. Advice for moving forward with these goals that include strategies for personal development and industry mentoring programs.
The key is to promote women through the organization and then provide them with mentoring opportunities outside of the workplace, providing them networking opportunities that include women leaders within the industry.
– Attract women through your marketing.
This involves changing “your” culture to a more inclusive one in which people feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves and feel supported. To do this, you need to actively seek out female talent and develop a high-level pipeline within your organization.
– Ensure transparent communication between leadership teams and both genders
You need to demonstrate clearly how the organization is conforming to GNC goals and appointing women into leadership positions without negatively impacting men.
– Provide career development opportunities.
Create women’s networks where there is an opportunity to learn, network, and share
knowledge with those who have a similar background.
– Create leadership opportunities within an industry that they are passionate about
. This may be through mentoring programs or starting their own business in the industry.
-Encourage more women to become finance executives by introducing more female role models into the workforce; this may be starting with younger staff members and creating core team members who are drawn from different backgrounds and include both genders.
-Promote women to join the boardroom. Even if an organization has a quota of female board members, it is important to promote female candidates into senior roles within the company, particularly in areas that can influence decisions, such as finance and accounting.
– Promote gender diversity across your entire organization. If you are promoting women into leadership positions in finance, then ensure that there are other females in senior roles around them to support and provide advice on issues such as career development, working together as a team, managing conflicts, and handling pressure situations.
– Plan for succession planning by making sure that there are opportunities for younger staff members who may need advice from these leaders on how to progress from junior roles and onto more senior ones.
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