Formalizing female empowerment in fintech: Change will not happen until we start speaking truthfully.

“It’s time to embrace openness” when it comes to talking about the issues women face in finance, writes Moneycorp’s Marianne Gilmore.

Image source: Marianne Gilmore/Moneycorp.

Open LinkedIn on International Women’s Day and you’re likely to see content divided into three main camps: praise and celebration of gender equality initiatives, criticism of companies that have missed the mark, and the content that attracted this scrutiny in the first place.

It is absolutely essential that we celebrate genuine success, and hold people to account where necessary. What is missing, however, is a more nuanced discussion of the areas in between.

Openly and generously discussing the problems women still face in traditionally male-dominated financial firms will help us all share solutions so that we can tackle this problem together.

The state of the industry

There is still work to be done to create more fertile ground for female success in fintech. The first step is to recognize where we currently fall short. For example, we need to see more women taking on leadership roles.

Globally, within financial institutions, women held 21 percent of board seats, 19 percent of C-suite roles and 5 percent of CEOs in 2021.

With 33 percent of our own C-Suite made up of women at Moneycorp, we are ahead of the average, but there is still more we can do.

It’s time to be a little more honest

Fortunately, recent news shows that FTSE 350 companies have met their board level diversity targets three years early – so change is happening.

Still, it’s likely that the reason these companies were able to achieve this is that they didn’t flinch from where they stood and face it head-on.

To create a truly equal fintech sector, we must avoid the temptation to resort to binaries: either tell the world about our progress or be silent because we haven’t done enough. It’s time to embrace transparency.

If we can lean into accountability and open dialogue, we have a much better chance of identifying any gaps and making positive changes together.

One of the best things companies, and those who lead them, can do is distinguish between short-term measures we can introduce now, versus long-term behavioral changes that gradually work towards equality by addressing systemic problems.

Some good places to start

At Moneycorp, much like many of our peers, we still have a long way to go – but we mustn’t let the size of the challenge get in our way. So, in the spirit of openness, we share some ideas that we have begun to formalize ourselves.

1. Mentoring and networking

As we’ve already mentioned, the percentage of women reaching senior roles in fintech remains worryingly low. Mentoring programs will help more women advance into leadership roles, and are particularly useful in encouraging early career employees.

Offering women-only networking events will create a space for them to share their experiences and build their visibility and profile with other key colleagues. These should be balanced with events that are inclusive of all genders, building allies and awareness across the entire workforce. That way, people from all backgrounds, across the entire organization, can better understand the inequality women face at work and are better equipped to play a role in fixing it.

2. Recruitment

Nurturing female talent can start already in the recruitment phase. Eliminating bias is incredibly important. Traditionally male-dominated sectors such as finance are particularly prone to affiliation bias (being more likely to hire people who closely match their own appearance or background, often unintentionally).

One way to combat this is to commit to blind CV screenings. Building diversity, equality and inclusion statements into your recruitment policy is also an important step, as is ensuring they are followed through.

3. Inclusive leave

In a 2022 study, 80 percent of parents said that different parental leave policies reinforced traditional gender roles in the workplace. Evaluating leave policies to ensure they are fair and inclusive will support employee wellbeing and make it easier for people having children and all carers to juggle family and career. This could include maternity and extended maternity leave, shared parental leave and adoption leave, while a bill to allow employees to take time off work for fertility treatment is currently being debated in the House of Commons.

While transition is a relatively new concept for many businesses, it shouldn’t be.

According to a 2022 government report, poor workplace support for people experiencing menopause is causing the UK to “bleed talent”. Allowing menopause and creating internal communications that reduce the stigma around taking it will help address this. Policies may include flexible work arrangements, access to menopause-related health resources, and time off to manage symptoms.

There is no universal solution or policy that will address gender inequality in our sector for good. But as business leaders, committing to open and honest conversations will help us learn from each other.

Achieving equality in fintech and financial services is an ongoing process. By formalizing and committing to drive diversity and inclusion initiatives, businesses can reduce gender bias and create equal opportunities for women. It’s a big mountain to climb, but if we keep putting one foot in front of the other—consistently and in good faith—we’ll eventually get there.