Financial services industry lags on gender equality

Women working in the financial services industry believe their employers are not open about remuneration policies and pay parity. Nor do they believe their employers see advancement of women as a priority.

In an industry survey by the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, 72.5 per cent of women said they did not think their organisation was transparent about pay parity, while 50.5 per cent of men thought their organisation's remuneration structures were transparent.

The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency reported earlier this year that Australia's gender pay gap is 17.4 per cent. In the financial services and insurance industry the gap is 31.3 per cent - one of the widest pay gaps of any industry.

Finsia estimated that 34.1 per cent of managers in financial services companies are women and 7.4 per cent of chief executives are women.

When Finsia asked survey respondents whether women were well represented at senior levels in their organisation, 64.6 per cent of men said "yes", but only 35.6 per cent of women said "yes".

And, when they were asked whether the advancement of women into senior roles was a priority in their organisation, 64.6 per cent of men said "yes", but only 41.1 per cent of women thought this was the case.

When Finsia asked this question in 2010, only eight per cent of women said "yes".

Men and women agreed that the implementation of flexible working arrangements would be an effective way of increasing the participation rate of women in the industry.