Gender Inequality in the Employment Sector
Gender inequality in the employment sector is a global issue. The feminist movement has led to the representation of women in many industries such as medicine, finance, engineering, etc. However, in the UK, women are still underrepresented in the financial sector. In the UK financial industry, only 23% of the board of directors’ members are female. In addition, only 14% of the executive committee members are women (Chinwala, 2016). These figures indicate the plight of women in the workforce. The Nordic region has the highest female representation in finance (34% in the BOD and 25% in the executive committee), followed by France (29% in the BOD and 16% execs), Germany (27% BOD and 8% execs), and the Netherlands (23% BOD and 17% execs) (Chinwala, 2016). The UK follows these countries but is ahead of the US (16% BOD and 16% execs) (Chinwala, 2016).
The Patriarchal Nature of the UK Financial Sector
The UK financial sector is still patriarchal since women occupy the majority of the positions in the support jobs. Male dominance has always placed women in work positions where they serve men and those that do not generate a lot of revenue (e.g. secretaries), instead of leadership roles. In the UK, there are many women in the treasury, audit, strategy, marketing, legal and compliance, communication, corporate affairs, and HR (Chinwala, 2016). The number of female non-executive directors is almost four times as ample as the number of female executive directors, i.e., 27% versus 7% (Chinwala, 2016). On average, the ratio of executive directors to non-execs on a BOD is 1:3. However, for women in the financial sectors, the ratio increases to 1:12 (Chinwala, 2016). As such, this research seeks to underline the gender disparities in the financial sector when it comes to women representation in leadership positions.
References
Chinwala, Y., 2016. Women in UK financial services. [Online] Available at: https://30percentclub.org/assets/uploads/UK/Research/New_Financial_Women_in_UK_finserv_2016_FINAL.pdf [Accessed 9/11/2018].
