Chief executives from some of Australia’s biggest financial institutions gathered to debate solutions for the industry’s persistent gender equality problem at luncheon in Melbourne yesterday.
The event, run by the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia), saw a number of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Male Champions of Change debate what is and isn’t working in their organisations, including the Commonwealth Bank’s chief executive Ian Narev, Goldman Sach’s chief executive Simon Rothery and ANZ’s chief executive Mike Smith.
The panel debated several big questions relating to gender equality and gender diversity in the financial services industry, focusing on finding the most effective ways to lift women’s participation in the industry.
Data released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency late last year revealed that the financial services industry is still the worst performing industry when it comes to gender equality. The WGEA found that the gender pay gap in this industry is higher than any other, at 37.8%. It found that while women make up 57% of employees in the industry, they make up only 23% of executives and an abysmal 5.3% of CEOs.
Based on these poor results, industry executives and experts have begun discussing how to best assist companies – particularly the big four banks – in improving their gender equality performance.
During the lunch event in Melbourne yesterday, Ian Narev expressed his disappointment that the Commonwealth Bank had failed to meet a five-year gender diversity target it set in 2010. The bank has increased the number of women in middle management roles from 26% to 33.4% in that time, but missed its target of 35%. He said he is determined to work harder to find better ways to meet targets and increase women’s participation in the business.
So what solutions did the panel come up with?
They discussed the importance of flexible work in lifting women’s participation. Narev said encouraging all employees to work flexibly when they need to is crucial to supporting female employees and retaining them through parenthood and other caring responsibilities. This was echoed by ANZ’s Mike Smith, who also recognised the importance of encouraging flexible work at all levels of the management ladder.
Smith also described the success of ANZ’s Notable Women initiative, which aims to promote women’s engagement and empowerment by encouraging female employees to talk to the media and promote their success in the public domain.
“Men bullshit their way through things, women tend to be honest about their experiences. And it’s importantthat they get out there and represent the businesses they partake in,” he said.
The persistent underrepresentation of female experts quoted in the media, and specifically in business journalism, was recognised by Bloomberg last month when its news editor-in-chief announced he would no longer publish stories without at least one female source. As ANZ’s Notable Women initiative makes clear, it is important for leaders on both sides of this equation – journalists and experts – to take action to fix this problem.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick also used the event to provide her advice on how the industry executives could lift their game when it comes to gender equality and women’s participation. She said meeting targets requires big change rather than incremental changes, and requires executives to be open to new ways of thinking. She also said it is vital for leaders to focus on engaging those men who still don’t believe that gender equality matters in order to make sure there remain no individuals holding the industry back.
She said that if the industry and its leaders do not begin actively and intentionally including women, the system would inevitably exclude them.
She implored the industry executives to constantly ask themselves the question “50/50, if not, why not?”