Remember and celebrate women past and present

While we are still not enjoying equality in many areas – pay, pensions, numbers of women on company boards and so on – there is little doubt that things are, at least in some of these areas, heading in the right direction.

However, the thing that makes me angry about this is the glacially slow progress we are making towards what should simply be given to women by right. For example, the Equal Pay Act became law in 1975 – yet 47 years later, we are still talking about women being paid less than men. Even though it is literally illegal.

Sadly, it is not just women who are suffering pay inequality; just take a look at the regulator’s own data in last year’s annual report to see that Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, women and even disabled staff are earning lower amounts than, mostly white, men. I would be surprised if the figures showed much of a difference at the larger companies it regulates either.

There is no question that the City has traditionally been an old boys’ club. Friends from Eton, Harrow, Oxford or Cambridge have been slotted into some of the choicest roles with the fattest pay cheques because 'well, they think like I do, don’t you know, old bean?'. But this is short-sighted and increasingly a method of hiring that is being consigned to history, thankfully. 

Sadly, it is not just women who are suffering pay inequality

Is it right to positively discriminate? In an ideal world, I would say no – indeed, if the person has not got the right qualifications for the job, they should not get it. Yet these questions must be asked to simply give people a level playing field and the opportunity to get the roles they would otherwise not have been considered for because of the colour of their skin, their sexuality, gender identity or their background, regardless of their qualifications or their ability to succeed in the role.

It has taken a lot of work and some regulatory pushing to make this happen. The sad thing about that is the absolute lack of realisation in many cases that a more diverse and challenging group of people on a board will make a stronger and more successful company. Research shows this to be the case.

Having people like you, who share your views and tell you what you want to hear creates an echo chamber that merely feeds a chief executive’s ego and often creates a company that stagnates and fails to move forward effectively, or worse is completely out of touch, especially in the modern world.

A perfect example of this currently is the sad situation in Ukraine. An unchallenged politician ruling by force is doing what he wants and threatening anyone trying to stop him invading a neighbouring country. However, clearly Ukraine is a proud nation and proving to be heroic in its defiance against a much larger foe.

There is a video online of a lady who asked a heavily armed Russian soldier to put a packet of sunflower seeds in his pocket so there would be sunflowers in Ukraine if he died. It shows just how strong Ukrainians are. He told her not to escalate the situation – her response was how could she escalate it? They were here uninvited. You cannot really argue with that.

Challenge creates balance in an approach. It is why our parliament is so important, and why it is not acceptable for the prime minister – no matter who it is – to make laws and then pass them by parliament for rubber stamping. Democracy does not work like that, and it is high time we all made it clear we are not prepared to allow it to happen. But I digress.

Of course, while women must and will stand up for themselves and push for things to improve, it helps if men will call out bad behaviour by other men. A perfect example in the workplace would be where a woman is ignored when she makes a good suggestion in a meeting, only for a man to be lauded when he says the same thing.

There have been many female advisers who have worked hard to establish themselves as key players in what is very much still a male-dominated world – Anna Sofat, Philippa Gee, and Kim North come immediately to mind. And it is time for new women coming into the industry to come to the fore and help move female financial advice forwards once again.

IWD is a key date in the calendar when we should think about what we can do – no matter what our identified gender is – to help improve the lot for women. And before you all start rushing to judgement, there is also an International Men’s Day on November 19.

However, for now, let’s celebrate women past and present, and do everything we can to help them achieve their full potential in the financial services industry.

Alison Steed is a freelance journalist