The financial services gender divide

Women in the Australian financial services industry do not feel they are afforded the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

That is the bottom line of research undertaken by the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia), which canvassed the opinions of 800 of its members.

The perceptions of gender-bias in the workplace differed starkly between men and women, with women perceiving a significant imbalance in opportunities and men largely perceiving the gender divide to be closing.

Differences on the topic of pay equality were particularly stark: 61 per cent of men agreed with the statement that the “pay gap in financial services is grossly exaggerated”, and that the difference in earnings between men and women in financial services was a “fair reflection of the hours worked and skill set”. Eighty per cent of female respondents disagreed with these statements.

Further reflecting the disparity in views, 43 per cent of male respondents believed there was a “high degree of transparency” in their organisation around remuneration and the parity of pay between genders, while only 11 per cent of women agreed with the same statement.

With regards to promotions, 82 per cent of female respondents believed women who take time off work to care for children must trade promotion for flexibility, but only 52 per cent of males believed that to be the case.

Furthermore, 84 per cent of female financial services professionals believed “even women who choose not to have children are underutilised in senior ranks”, while only 28 per cent of men supported the same statement.

Forty four per cent of male respondents felt women were “well represented at senior levels” in their organisation, while 22 per cent of female respondents identified with the same statement.

Reflecting the responses of the genders, the majority of male respondents (71 per cent) agreed that “companies have taken significant steps to address the structural disadvantages which historically existed in financial services so women now have the same opportunities as men”. The majority of female respondents (72 per cent) disagreed with that statement.

Finsia chief executive Dr Martin Fahy said cultural barriers were at the heart of the gender divide.

“Considering women make up over half of Australia’s population and legislation has supported equal rights for many years now, the only way to explain the lack of women occupying leadership roles is a common bias at executive management level towards men,” Dr Fahy said.

The survey covered financial services professionals working in the financial advice, funds management, superannuation and accounting sectors, as well those in banking, corporate finance, capital markets and regulatory/government roles. It also surveyed stockbrokers/analysts and service providers such as those working in law, IT and human resources.