COP26 turned global focus towards climate change and sustainability. For all the positive noise from the governments attending, the criticism of ‘too little, too slowly’ has roundly resonated. Particularly with the younger generations, that are frustrated with the lack of urgency from policymakers in tackling the issues that will define their future.
As a long-term campaigner for gender equality and diversity within financial services, I’m no stranger to the slow pace of change and I’ve often used the term ‘little ripples’ to characterise this. However, I’m increasingly becoming aware of a chorus of younger voices for whom little ripples are not enough and who want to create waves!
The world their oyster?
Millennials and Gen Zs hold more inclusive views and expectations than previous generations and long-standing issues within our industry, such as the gender pay gap and the pension and investment gap, are viewed with incredulity. For generations brought up to believe the world is their oyster, the realities of a career in which women working full time get paid nearly 8%* less than men are a rude awakening. And if you start digging into the data within financial services, the gap gets wider, with investment management firms for example reporting an average mean pay gap of 28.8%.*
The tide is gradually turning in a number of areas but progress is slow. For example, I’m disheartened the number of female financial advisers in the UK for example has remained almost static for the past 20 years.
Mind the gaps
One key issue is that the pay gap and the interlinked investment and pension gaps are tied into many women taking a career break or moving to part time work as the main caregiver for their family. As the younger generation become parents however, shared parental leave and flexible working will undoubtedly become normalised within the workplace, with the hope this will have a positive impact on pay and pension gaps.
The pandemic has also rapidly transformed our expectations around the work-life balance and those employers that want to remain relevant and attractive to the best talent in the future will need to adapt to these new expectations.
If an increase in shared parental leave and more flexible working leads to a reduction in extended career breaks or downshifting their roles, it would suggest that more women will have the opportunity to progress into senior and board level positions. This can only have a positive impact on future governance structures and accountability in the workplace, as well as the obvious financial benefits to the individuals in those roles.
Positive part of the change
It’s exciting to imagine how little ripples could start to build momentum quite quickly over the coming years but we all need to play our part, by holding ourselves and those around us to account.
Maybe we all need a good dose of Gen Z indignation and impatience! As Greta Thunberg commented about COP26, “Change is not going to come from inside there”. We all need to be a positive part of the change to turn those little ripples within our industry into waves.
* ONS Gender pay gap in the UK: 2021
Anna Sofat is an associate director at Progeny
