Women in Financial Services
E2W members met the team behind the Women in Finance Charter
Katie.Dix / 24 May 2019
E2W members met the team behind the Women in Finance Charter.
Hosted by our friends and partners at Man Group, on Wednesday morning 22nd May, the team from the HM Treasury behind the Women in Finance Charter took the opportunity to meet E2W members - senior women working at the front line of Financial Institutions.
E2W members were able to hear about the history of the charter, its structure and the commitment of the Government to helping drive change in the industry.
The HM Treasury team got insight into challenges faced by our members, the impact, the levels of commitment and awareness of the charter in their firms.
With over 330 firms now signed to the charter, perhaps the most interesting discussions took place in sharing ideas about the next stage - ensuring and helping firms to meet their commitments.
Topics we discussed were:
- Granularity and clarity of commitment and reporting
- The role and visibility of accountable executives
- Standardising measures / commitments with those reported in Gender Pay Gap Reports
- The challenge of a lack of senior female roles rather than the often reported lack of qualified women
- Awareness and understanding of the charter among middle managers (Male and Female)
- The impact of the industry board
- Mobilising women and industry bodies behind the charter (and diversity in general)
- Holding poor performers to account VS recognising outstanding performance
- Getting new signatories in FinTech
- Disseminating best practice and sharing challenges
- Future structures for the charter
Thank you Kim McNamara - HSBC, Rhiannon Wakefield - Barclays, Caroline Rayfield – Morgan Stanley, Ulla Harker – Morgan Stanley, Monica Summerville – TABB Group, Maria Lombardo – Invesco, Cassandra Cox – Société Générale and Lynne Chambers - M&G Prudential for taking the time to contribute to this important discussion.
Thank you to the team from the HMT, Deborah Ejim-McCubbin, Lucy Alawi-Yates and Sophie Mcnair. We hope we gave you some insight to the challenges and ideas for the future. Especial thanks to Carol Ward, Nick Dennes and Cliodhna Murphy from Man Group for hosting this event.
“Who is responsible for creating awareness, sharing best practice, supporting signatories to move the dial? There is a vacuum a missing link.”
”Who is representing the women in the industry and ensuring they get heard and have a voice.”
“We need more granularity and transparency into firms charter commitments and the progress they are making.”
“My organisation’s stats are not good, we are late to the game but we are coming!”
“When women look up, they don’t feel they have anywhere to go. Very little female role models. We need a greater representation of women.”
“Middle level management just do not get it! It’s great that diversity is coming from the top down…but it’s going to take some time.”
“We need to set aspirational targets for middle management.”
“Women are hired for their track record, men are hired for their potential!”
“Rather than naming and shaming firms for bad results, we should be rewarding and celebrating those with good results.”
“Cultural elements need to change – one thing that makes a difference if targets and shared knowledge. It has to be a part of the culture.”
If you would like to be involved with similar events or you would like to discuss this in more detail, please contact Katie.
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