International Women’s Day highlights female empowerment on a global scale. This year’s theme is ‘Invest in women: accelerate progress’, which encourages consideration of the vital role that inclusion and diversity play when striving for gender equality.
In particular, it hopes to challenge stereotypes and break down barriers for underrepresented women, so that all women, from all walks of life can be valued and considered.
State of equality in fintech
The fintech sector has been working towards fair representation.Currently 28% of fintech founders are female, while a recent report from the UK Government found that less than 2% of investments into startups this year went to female-led firms.
In terms of female founders of colour, 0.41% of venture capital funding went to black female founders in 2021. With this year’s campaign theme for IWD being #InspireInclusion, it’s only appropriate that the industry uses today as a reminder that more women need financing to lower the barriers to entry in the sector.
The same issues exist within the broader financial services sector, only on a much larger scale. For example, only 6% of UK-based CEOs are women and more than a third of European firms are currently failing to meet the EU’s targets for female senior leadership.
Thankfully, the UK’s government, industry bodies and fintech companies are conscious of the urgent need to provide greater opportunities for women to thrive. Tech Nation, the growth platform for tech entrepreneurs, recently announced this year’s cohort for Libra, a programme which seeks to close the funding gap experienced by ethnic minority founders.
The Women-Led High-Growth Enterprise Taskforce has also worked continuously with fintech founders and the investment space to identify and tackle the main barriers that deter women from excelling in starting and scaling high-growth companies.
Additionally, there are several influential figures within the sector, such as Charlotte Crosswell, Chair of the Centre of Finance, Innovation and Technology and Anne Boden, CEO at Starling Bank, who are paving the way for the influx of budding female entrepreneurs looking to enter the space. Our clients also champion women in senior positions, such as Alisa DiCaprio, Chief Economist at R3, Silvija Krupena, Director of Red Compass Lab’s Financial Intelligence Unit, and Joanna Tibbitt, Chief Operating Officer at Globacap.
Joanna shared with us how she is fostering a more inclusive culture at Globacap, highlighting that, “role modelling that you can be a successful senior executive, influencing the leadership team and managing a young family (with the associated challenges), helps to normalise this and give confidence to others.”
Alisa DiCaprio also shared her thoughts on how far diversity has come, noting that, “there’s certainly a greater recognition today that diversity is an important part of every team. This is a positive development that we should be proud of”.
These women are examples of the progress that has been made since International Women’s Day was first introduced in 1911, but with the World Economic Forum predicting that it will take an additional 131 years to achieve full gender parity, it’s clear that stronger, swifter action needs to take place to enact real change.
Gender diversity at Chatsworth
At Chatsworth, we’re proud to have a 50/50 split of men and women, working in our communications, digital marketing and operations departments. Having an equal gender split makes the firm a “dynamic, collaborative place to work”, says Liz Fleming, our co-founder and director.
Liz hopes to see more firms work to achieve better inclusivity for women, particularly in senior roles, stating that, “diversity allows for new, fresh perspectives and insights which can help a firm thrive. More firms need to take a progressive approach to enact noticeable growth and show women that they are more than capable of holding senior positions and excelling in them”.
Our Diversity and Inclusion initiative also works to educate the team on the importance of different races, religions and sexualities, providing an open, respectful and inclusive working environment.
This International Women’s Day, it’s important to reflect on the progress that we’ve made in pushing for gender equality, but it’s even more necessary to recognise that there is more work to be done. By highlighting the powerful women making waves within fintech, we hope to see more firms embrace inclusivity to make the sector a less restrictive place for women.
Chatsworth
We were the first communications agency to focus on fintech.
We’ve been building fintech reputations for 20 years, steering start-ups through launch, growth, and onto corporate action while protecting and enhancing established infrastructures.
For intelligent, informed and connected fintech PR which delivers results and value, let us help build your reputation and tell your story.
