The Workplace Gender Equality Act will “add focus” for senior management’s desire to change the culture of gender imbalance in financial services, according to eFinancialCareers.
Gender equality will be on the radar of management in financial services for firms with 100 employees or more, according to eFinancialCareers Asia Pacific managing director George McFerran.
“Financial services has a reputation for not being a particularly friendly environment or welcoming environment for women to work in,” Mr McFerran told InvestorDaily.
“People in senior management want these changes to happen. [The Act] will be one tool or lever that will make it happen.”
An eFinancialCareers survey of Australian finance professionals indicated gender discrimination is “rife”, with approximately 84 per cent of women believing gender discrimination does occur in the industry.
Mr McFerran said there are a number of ways to help women in the workplace, including understanding that being a parent is a “team effort,” and that men may need flexible hours to alleviate childcare duties also.
“Historically, flexible working and childcare has been very much focused around women, but actually, men need to be able to do this as well,” he said.
“If the woman is spending time in the office, her husband or partner needs to be able to pick up the children.”
The survey also found just 12 per cent of women believed remuneration is equal for men and women in senior roles.
“Clearly people still think that men are favoured in the workplace over women, and that is a culture change that needs to take place, that perception needs to change,” said Mr McFerran.
