As part of our ongoing Diversity on the Desk series Valerie Miles, director of European credit trading at Loomis Sayles in London, gives BEST EXECUTION frank insights into why hybrid working could actually be harming female careers, why parental leave is so important, why industry events need to do better – and why International Women’s Day just isn’t enough…
We have made progress! Females are increasingly being represented in trading roles in both the sell side and buy side. We have noticed a new generation of young female traders across the industry, which shows that we are moving in the right direction.
Challenges persist though, especially in senior positions where the new/post-Covid hybrid working environment (ability to work from home on a regular basis) remains a major obstacle for women to be promoted to senior positions. While management seem officially supportive of women growing their career, biases remain as male traders tend to work in office more regularly than women, making them better candidates for advancement. It’s fair to say though that for many the hybrid working environment has added longevity to their career in finance.
Over the last few years we have seen men using their entitlement to parental leave more regularly. It has become more frequent for male colleagues to take parental leave over several months while the norm was closer to one to three weeks a few years ago. We need to see a broader and more consistent adoption of parental leave, working from home allowance etc across male traders to level the playing field and eliminate the biases.
Industry events continue to show an overwhelming majority of men in the room (think FILS for example). While every individual is very approachable and displays all great qualities, the disproportion of men vs women at such events shows that trading and finance in general is still very much a ‘boys club’. Conversations as a result are not particularly inclusive and we have seen some women leaving events prematurely on that basis. FILS last year held the Diversity Panel on the main stage, which was fantastic. We believe we need more of these examples and male traders have a big role to play in advocating for their women colleagues.
Unfortunately, IWD still has little/no meaning to us. We have noted some initiatives internally and externally but these are mainly driven by women themselves. Until there is a real push by senior management and men to support, promote and advocate for their women colleagues, progress will remain slow. We are not sure about the idea of dedicating a day to a cause when recognising women should be done on a daily basis and all year round, but suppose we have to start somewhere…
© Markets Media 2024.
