100
World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2020: Gender parity will not be attained for 100 years(1).
DESPITE THE WILLINGNESS OF FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUPS TO SIGN UP TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES, CHANGE HAS BEEN SLOW
The number of signatories to the UK government’s Women in Finance Charter launched in June 2016, which commits companies to setting targets for promoting women and publishing their progress, has snowballed — 350 groups had signed up by July 2019, up from around 160 in February 2018(1).
However, change has been painfully slow. According to a December 2019 research from the Financial Conduct Authority, women making up a paltry 17% of FCA-approved individuals, almost unchanged since 2005(2).
There is also widespread evidence to suggest that women in senior positions at UK financial firms tend to represent support functions, rather than profit-generating ones(3).
Moreover, a report by think-tank New Financial published in July 2019 showed most signatories had not taken any of the actions required by the charter before signing up(4).
Source: (1) Financial Times, 2019; (2) FCA, 2019; (3) FCA, 2017; (4) New Financial, 2019; (5) Mercer, 2016; (6) House of Commons, 2018.