Gender Equality in the Finance Industry

Introduction

 The purpose of this report is to detail the role of gender equality in the finance industry. The relevance and actionable information coupled with up-to-date evidence on women's role in the financial industry brings out the need for gender equality in the world. Women in the finance industry should be empowered to venture into the financial sector and support its growth both personally and professional wise. The financial industry is essential in policymaking a budgeting of world’s economies. Being at the center of the industry is a chance to have control of the direction of most powerful economies of the entire world. Gender equality is one of the central issues that determine talent selection and the development of most thriving sector in the entire world. Gender equality not only promotes women rights but human rights for both sexes hence it ends up protecting and safe guarding the interests of most people. In 2019, the number of women in top managerial roles within the financial industry was 21.9%. However 200, the number might grow to 31%.  Even though this number marks progress in the financial sector, the distribution and representation of women in all levels of the financial industry is considered to be of great importance to gender parity. One of the main reasons for the promotion of gender quality in the financial sector is to stop gender based violence against women and men. It is important for economic growth as women are given a chance to thrive and gain mileage where they could not have been considered fit enough to provide services. Furthermore, the report is a call for action to promote gender equality due to organizational diversification in the financial industry. Gender equality has been proven to influence creativity and promote output especially in the financial sector. Gender diversity specifically at the managerial levels is tied to increased profit margins. Therefore, according to certain surveys conducted in the financial industry gender equality impacts the performance of financial firms hence it is central in the evaluation of key performance aspects. In the current corporate world, organizations are rethinking management approaches to upgrade the end result for women. One vital way of restructuring industries to accommodate gender equality matters is by intentionally formulating policies which favor both men and women and aligning internal policies to gender quality matters. For the sake of ensuring gender does not lean on either side, experts have claimed that men should never been sidelined in making decision about gender equality.

The problem

 Gender equality will ensure that all the people have right of entry to sexual and reproductive medical amenities without any discrimination. Secondly, gender equality enacts policies and frameworks which protect women hence eradicates any form of violence against women and even men (Claessens, & Feijen, 2007). The chance of coming up with more than one way of ensuring that human rights are holistically protected or safeguarded is by ensuring gender equality is upheld in all the institutions in the world.  Finding ways of reducing gender inequality will give women a chance to succeed in all spheres of life. Even though gender quality is gradually gaining momentum and women are increasingly joining the labor market.

This particular sustainable develop goal provides international communities with a strategic opening to advance human rights and protect the rights of women and men while at the same time safeguarding their general wellbeing. The failure of most institutions promote gender equality and quicken the policies which would assist gender equality gain mileage brings to focus the intensive impact of gender inequality and the obstructive gender norms which affect both men and women (Antonopoulos, 2009). All through history, gender inequality has negatively impacted both men and women’s lives. For instance women are not allowed to pursue education because their worth is tied to marriage and men are not allowed to achieve more than their traditional role. Gender norms determine the levels of gender equality in various communities all over the world. Due to the deeply entrenched gender roles which dictate gender progression within the society. For instance women were considered to be domestic workers and therefore they could never advance their education because their gender roles identified them as home keepers. Apart from gender roles and community norms, gender bias are closely linked to most of the health issues. For example, researchers are biased on how they gather and analyze data hence the actual impact of gender inequality is never fully exposed or captured in a true manner.

Numerous issues determine gender equality for both men and women’s representation in various organizational setting. Most of the organizations began before people began advocating for gender equality. Nevertheless, the increasing emphasis on the importance of gender equality has shed light on the need for democratization in order to reduce the gender barriers responsible for stopping women and men from succeeding in various fields (Rubery, 2013). More so, showing support for gender equality issues prove that democratization has served it primary purpose and goal. Partly, gender equality consists of traditional change which is changing numerous features of the industrialized communities and supporting most of the democratic institutions. Most of the times, the democratic institutions pass regulations and laws which permit people to support and construct facilities which enable the practical aspects of gender equality to be openly practiced. In the recent past there has been a connection between traditional cultural attitudes and barriers to gender equality in the entire society. To come up with new ways of transforming the culture and protecting women and men from vices that would otherwise harm their well-being, changing traditional cultural norms seems to be one of the best ways of removing barriers to realizing gender equality in society (Gravili et al., 2019). Even though initial research and investigations of gender equality show that with time gender equality is naturally enacted, the process is normally slow hence the need to formalize democratic processes in order to make gender equality a reality. As stated initially advocating for gender equality will lead to economic progression due to the increased opportunities for both men and women. An alternative goal for attaining gender equality is to bring about safer communities due to increased accessibilities to capitals and openings in the current world. Gender equality directly and indirectly promotes justice. Therefore without attaining gender equality men and women cannot easily get fair treatment from the judicial systems.

 According to most experts in order to gain a deeper understanding of the gender equality, gender norms have to be evaluated based on stereotypes and other gender biasness practiced and accepted over time in the society (Cullen, & Murphy, 2018). For instance, unchallenged traditions of men domination and the subordination of women need to be investigated and rectified if gender equality is to be realized and nurtured in the community where women are looked down upon and dominated by men. The effectiveness of gender equality is normally dependent on changing the perceptions and traditional responsible for causing gender imbalance in the society.

The solution

  The financial industry has made progressive steps towards realizing gender equality.  Notably, the current industry is changing to accommodate more gender equality issues. Apart from society force to accommodate gender equality issues, most financial institutions are changing their organizational structure to align with gender equality issues. A diversified gender has proved to be effectual, supportive and respectful in terms of contributing to the entire performance of the company. Inclusion efforts simplifies work done hence improving the experiences of the workers (Petit, 2007). Discovering related welfares, familiarities purposes and values systems brings individuals together hence assisting to close the gender inequality gap between men and women. Sometimes and in some cases, men would prefer to work with women than other men. In this kind of situations, gender equality is normally considered in terms of interests and past experiences which plays a role in nurturing both the men and women in these particular situations. In addition, formal inclusion of both  genders brings about gender equality to not only exist but thrive in financial institutions where men are known to be dominant than women. While it takes time for gender equality to be appreciated as a way of sustaining human rights all over the world, the timing and place of gender equality is normally required (Fagan, & Rubery, 2018). For example, most people tend to think that women cannot fight in wars while others might think that some of the most common ways of bringing men and women together is through complimentary roles such as marriage, leadership forums where men and women are taught on how to live together. However, gender equality has to motivate both men and women to use their talents and skills to better themselves in their respective financial positions. Therefore, men can venture in areas deemed as feminine and women can specialize in areas once termed as masculine in nature. Therefore, the enhancement of identifying people with certain careers should be a think of the past as people mature and evolve to venture into any financial discipline they see fit.

 A financial institution that embeds gender quality issues into its organizational operations ensure that women and men are treated with dignity has higher chances of attaining a more superior output. This implication is normally instantaneous because the company alters is attitudes and company culture. Any financial institutions should comprehend that equal payment and bonuses are to issue based on merit and not gender. This way, financial forms are able to create more opportunities for development and promotion among their workforce (Razavi, 2016). Workers are not supposed to encounter discrimination because of their gender and any reports on gender discrimination should be swiftly acted upon. Gender inequalities is reduced due to change in financial administrative structures, operations and activities. For both men and women, gender inequality is entrenched in the human resource operations and frameworks. This is because human resource operations- decision-making, guidelines and implementation influence appointments, staffing, training, salaries and promotion among the workforce. Therefore, there is need to create a gender discrimination policy in the human resource department which will see to it that gender inequality is decrease. Depending on the nature of work, most of the times, financial industry is known to be inhospitable towards women due to the various kinds of gender inequalities that can be found in that particular field.  This bias against women has discouraged young women from venturing into the financial industry due to the intensive harassment and discrimination. In the long run, women have been ranked as low socio-economic categories because the financial industry is just one of the major industry which discriminates against them. Consequently, the need to change human resource practices which in the long run affects gender equality has to be started. Both men and women deserve a chance to work in any field. Due to the prominence of the financial industry and the extensive impact it has on the job market, women have to be empowered to take up more financial jobs in the sector.

Apart from diversified hiring and advocating for equal pay, updating training mechanisms to factor in gender equality subject matter. A positive organizational culture ensures that the working space is gender neutral (Karamessini & Rubery, 2013). This way, all the workers can conduct their studies without feeling disrespected or undervalued. In the modern work space people are required to perform certain workloads before they can be considered qualified or even skilled. The financial industry has retained its workforce based on the positive feedback from clients. Nevertheless, gender bias can cause inaction because workforce is required to rely on merit even when it is clear that women might be more disadvantaged than men. In these types of situations where the man has a clear advantage over the woman, it is the responsibility of the women to be supported in every way.

Conclusion

 According to recent studies, the finance industry is a male dominated field.  The male-domination industry has been forced to enact policies which promote gender equality in the profession. Women have for a long time been discouraged from venturing into male dominated careers and industries. Even though the finance industry has made strides to decrease the gender gap between men and women, women are still lagging in the financial sector. Therefore, the best approach was to change human resources processes and practices to accommodate more women, especially in the administrative roles. In some parts of the world, such as America, women are offered scholarships to study finance-related fields such as accounting. This attempts to increase the number of women who has worked but has not had the right impact.

Furthermore, financial firms have been forced to offer equal pay to both men and women. Gender equality it more than just equal pay and career progression, it entails transforming organization into institutions which adhere to the rule of law. Gender equality is associated with increased profit margins due to the increased output and exceptional performance. Studies show that the positions women occupy might rise in the near future if they are empowered to venture more into finance industry. Presently, the finance industry has to meet a gender equality threshold of 50/50 so that both men and women will have an equal chance working in the financial industrial sector. Therefore, the protection of human rights seem to be the primary role of gender equality.

 

 

Reference

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