A Problem of Diversity in the Workplace

Unfortunately, people still have to educate their employees on many issues in the workplace, but more importantly, on how to fight gender diversity. One may assume that it would be common sense in today's day in age for people to have respect for one another's gender, but sexist remarks are still being made every day.  Forbes conjured up a list called, Seven Ways To Fight Gender Diversity Issues In Finance of which are; (1) Encourage and recruit re-entry candidates, (2) Develop an interest in finance from an early age, (3) Find the best person for the job, (4) Increase and support financial education in the workplace, (5) Capitalize on women's natural strengths to build strong client relationships,  (6)  Focus on female leadership in finance,  And (7)  Prioritize the professional development of women in the industry (Forbes Finance Council, 2018).  In step one it mentions how some women who are educated, end up leaving their jobs to become full-time moms.  Although, it is hard to raise a family, it is even harder to go back into the work force because companies believe that women's time off raising a family only took away from gaining more experience in their designated fields.  According to Forbes, they claim that women who come back into the work force after raising a family are more mature and provide other life skills that are very beneficial to a firm.

 This is why Forbes is encouraging firms to hire women that are going back into the work force due to the skills that they will have to offer.  In the second step, it encourages for people to introduce finance to kids at a much younger age.  They believe that if children are introduced to finance in school curriculums early on, those that show interest, will be better educated in the field and have more dedication for finance.  This way, the child/young adult, will only focus on what makes them happy on their career choice and be more passionate in their job.  In the third step, it mentions that in a company, they have more women than men because they just happened to be better for the job.  They did not take into consideration their gender for their hiring process because honestly, it shouldn't.  As long as a person has the capacity to do that is required and shows potential for more, then there is no reason to not hire that person.  Of course, some legal issues or certain regulations that firms have may affect the hiring process.

For example, firm A may have a strict rule where it requires them to have the men to women ratio be 50/50 and Firm B, per say, focuses on discrimination against race so they have regulations on strictly having at least half of their employees to be of a certain race other than white.  At the end of the day it depends on each specific frim.  The fourth step encourages firms to provide educational programs to motivate their employees to continue learning new things that can help them and the company.  It's crucial for companies to do this because as time goes on, new regulations may be placed by the government or new and better processes may arise that will make working in the finance world more efficient.  The fifth step reminds employers that majority of women have a strong natural instinct to help people.  With that in mind, it is good for employers to have female employees that create deeper bonds with their clients because it builds trust and guarantees their affiliation with that specific firm.  The sixth step talks about the stigmatism that men are better at handling money than their female counterparts, but of course, it is not true.  Studies show that women have the capability to handle money better than men and that one day, majority of people dedicated to finance will be women.  It also states that companies should take advantage of this opportunity because a lot could be lost if not given the chance.  The seventh and last step again mentions the future of women in finance and states that by 2020, women in the United States will control up to $22 trillion.  Knowing this, firms could change their mindset if they continue to have the mentality that men are superior to women.

            Another article posted by Forbes, demonstrates five other issues that women are faced with when working in finance.  The title of the article is called, 5 Things You Need To Know About Women In Finance.  It mentions how women's ability and skills are undervalued and not being taken advantage of when there is so much untapped potential.  In the finance field, women representation is around 46%, which is not bad, but at an executive level, women only represent 15% of the employees. Forbes interviewed seven of their own female members to find out issues that are present in today's society. They first mention that the gender gap is an opportunity given, yet very challenging.  This is because it is well known that the finance field is male dominated and more than likely got into this line of work because it was introduced to them by their father, a friend, or an old college roommate.  Whatever the case may be, women have a harder time getting into this field because they literally have to climb the latter of success to get where they would like to be.  In some cases, they have their own fathers as connections, but because they still have that mentality of men being superior, he would probably only help get his daughter to a position that is not as high as men.  The second topic mentions how finance is more about making a difference in people's life, than compared to just making money.  As previously mentioned, women are driven by helping others and in this article, the women being interviewed would wake up in the morning with the satisfied feeling that they are helping others to be successful.  The third topic mentions that a person who is in the financial field, never stops learning. It mentions how being stimulated intellectually also helps them be motivated to go into work.  Reason being is that some people get tired or bored when they continue doing the same exact thing every single day for many consecutive years. 

This way, it enforces what they already know, but challenges them to learn something new and out of the ordinary.  The forth topic that the article mentions is that women are simply creating the future for finance.  This is because more and more women are establishing businesses, with new ideas and with new business atmosphere.  Obviously, men and women have completely different styles when it comes to running businesses, so when women create and run their own business, it encourages other women to do it, and in their own way.  The last topic talks about how the future for women in finance is bright.  It says this because although there are gender gaps, wage gaps, and the stigmatism that men are superior, women are staying positive and changing the finance field.  Having many female leaders encouraging other women, will only strengthen and grow the number of women working, not only in the business perspective, but in all other fields as well.

            A couple of days ago, another article posted by Forbes posted the ten most powerful women in finance of this year. Starting with number ten, here are the amazing women that are making an impact in the finance community; Dominique Senequier – President of Ardian, Rania Nashar – CEO of Samba Financial, Anne Finucane – Vice Chair of Bank of America, Marianne Lake – CFO of JPMorgan Chase, Mary Callahan Erdoes – CEO of Asset Management in JPMorgan Chase, Stacey Cunningham – President of NYSE, Ho Ching – CEO of NASDAQ,  Ana Patricia Botin – Chair of Banco Santandar, and finally as number one is Abigail Johnson – CEO of Fidelity Investments.  These women were given the honor of being recognized as the most powerful women in finance for many reasons.  Each and every one showed dedication in their designated positions and have made a difference.  According to the article, after ten years of the financial crisis, the Bank of America has reported an increase of 32% of net income; $7.3 billion and a 4% revenue increase to $22.8 billion.  None of this would have been possible without the help of women that worked in the company.  Another great example is the CEO of Fidelity Investments, Abigail Johnson.  She is responsible for their assets to grow to an outstanding total of $7.2 trillion.  As a result, Fidelity is now the largest firm that is involved in the financial field. Aside from being recognized as the largest firm in finance, Johnson introduced the company's very own cryptocurrency trading platform for bitcoin.  Although bitcoin is known to be very risky, Johnson found a way to incorporate themselves to an area that guarantees security by holding their assets in a physical vault.

            Not only are women in the United States being recognized in the finance world, but so are other women across the globe. Below you will find the percentage of women that work in finance compared to their male counterparts:

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