The percentage of female advisers has remained somewhat static around the 22%-24% mark for more than 10 years, despite initiatives like Inspire working with female advisers – and it’s time to find out why, according to Inspire national chair Amie Baker.
Baker is hoping to commission a five-year research project that will capture the real challenges facing bringing women into financial planning.
“Looking at similar research undertaken for the mortgage industry, we want to explore what the barriers have been – for example, the education standard and professional year have not been easy for women”, Baker says.
There have also been challenges with the traditional corporate way of working, and the full fees for advisers and CPD requirements whether you’re working full-time or part-time.
“Also, the culture can be quite intimidating,” Baker says.
“The objective is to find how to attract more women into financial advice and it may mean we need to change policy.
“Because it’s representative of the population, more women want to see a female adviser.”
Inspire’s purpose is to provide a framework to support women in financial services allowing enhancements and opportunities to evolve their careers; facilitating growth by networking and connections to other women in financial services; and focus on enhancing the growth of individual women in their careers.
Baker says the five-year research project will track and measure the progress each year. Ideally, the research would result in building greater awareness among key decision-makers in the profession about the key barriers and encourage industry-led initiatives to support the retention and success of female financial advisers.
Inspire has been working with advisers through the year continuing the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day – Count Her In. “We want to make sure we’re being heard regarding diversity, and equity,” says Baker.
“We want to shine a light on what we do and what we do differently.”
Congress 2024 sees Inspire run a two-hour plenary session of the women’s journey – advising on starting a relationship, family planning, inheriting, marriage breakdown, coercion. “The purpose of this is to get people thinking about issues that women face every day,” Baker says.
