Women in Finance
How the industry has evolved and why it must continue to do so
The financial services industry has come a long way regarding gender diversity since I first started my career as a young woman almost thirty years ago. Then, senior positions were more commonly held by men with females holding leadership roles in general seen to be an extreme rarity and female financial advisors rarer still.
Today, as a director of my own firm, I'm incredibly encouraged to see more and more women owning their businesses and holding senior management positions across multiple professions – especially in financial services.
Over the past five years we have seen a gradual cultural change towards women rightly progressing into senior leadership roles based on merit, talent, and ability.
I’ve always believed that at its best, the pursuit of gender diversity in the workplace is actually a pursuit of skill and merit-based career advancement. Challenging gender bias and creating equal opportunities for men and women within business and more specifically financial services is key to attracting and retaining a talented workforce.
At Legacy, we’re passionate advocates of equality, diversity, and inclusion. We strive to ensure that the same opportunities are made available to every team member – regardless of their gender, sexuality, age or background. I am particularly proud of the fact that over half of our senior management roles are held by skilled, qualified and competent females such as Hayley, Ela, and Jenna.
Pictured LtR: Jenna Perrine, Head of Marketing, Hayley Patterson, Associate Director, Richard Creane, Corporate Benefits Manager, Ela Harbison, Paraplanning Manager.
Collectively, we must all work to ensure that our industry has a strong pipeline of exceptional female talent at all levels. This means doing everything we can do to encourage younger generations of females to get involved in financial services, ensuring that they have something tangible to aspire to and that they feel represented and supported.
Women are a powerful and ever-growing force of wealth generation and decision making in the UK, with female entrepreneurship on the rise and more and more professional women in need of expert financial guidance to build and grow their wealth strategy for the future.
It follows then that this focus on gender equality in financial services must then extend to how we engage with our clients and encourage them to manage their wealth. We champion female financial inclusion in the moments that matter. For example, we actively encourage our female clients to be equally involved in financial decision making, even if their partner has historically dealt with the financial advisor in the past. We also ensure our team of expert advisors engage in ongoing education and remain skilled in inclusive financial planning that understands the unique goals, risks, priorities and investing preferences of all clients regardless of gender.
Embracing quality, diversity and inclusion – not just in the workplace but in general is so important, and whilst we can and should celebrate the progress that has been made over the years, I think we can agree that further progress is still necessary. The financial services industry is on an evolutionary journey with a long way to go, but I’m certain that it’s a change for good.
Gillian Rea
Gillian is the Operations Director at Legacy Wealth Management with over 20 years experience in the financial services industry.
“At Legacy, we’re passionate advocates of equality, diversity and inclusion.”