As someone who started their financial career in the 1990s, I can safely say that a lot has changed since then.
For me, one of the most noticeable changes has been the increase in the number of women in the industry.
This takes a variety of forms, from women leading teams to a growing number of forums and networks set up to offer guidance and support, there also seems to be greater acceptance of women in these leadership roles.
While this is undoubtedly encouraging, and progress has definitely been made, there is still more to do.
Like the changes seen in women’s sport, if we want to create meaningful and sustained changes in our industry then we have to invest at a grass-roots level.
While students and graduates are more than likely to be aware of career options in mainstream financial institutions, they may not be as knowledgeable when it comes to specialist finance — I believe that we all have a role to play when it comes to informing young women of the options available to them.
For the past two years MT Finance has worked with Brightstar on its Women into Finance campaign, which saw my colleagues and me take part in a variety of events with students from Debden High School — I really believe that initiatives like this are so important,particularly as they can often act as a catalyst for those who are still working out what career they want to pursue.
The importance of work experience placements should also not be underestimated; however, we need to be mindful of who has access to these — If the industry is to continue to diversify.
We should be offering spaces to students from a variety of different schools, colleges and universities, therefore helping to broaden the socio-economic background of those entering our sector — we need to consider how we make these placements as informative as possible.
At MT Finance, we split a student’s time between different departments, allowing them to work out which areas they are most interested in.
Giving women access to someone who can advise and act as a mentor is another way in which we can support women looking to kickstart, restart or advance their careers — we also need to make sure they are aware of the different resources that are available to them, from graduation programmes to networking opportunities.
However, we shouldn’t assume our main challenge is simply getting women into the industry. We also need to ensure they are given the same opportunities as men when it comes to progression.
At MT Finance, we signed the Women in Finance Charter back in 2018 which has allowed the business to not only set goals to increase gender equality but also hold itself accountable.
I’m proud to say that we have hit a number of ambitious targets, including exceeding 50% of women in senior management positions and adding two female candidates to our board of directors.
This makes for very encouraging reading and I’m looking forward to seeing more companies reporting similar figures.
