Women in payments

You can’t be what you can’t see

The lack of female representation in leadership positions is the product of a number of issues. Poor training for hiring managers on inclusivity practices can slow women’s career growth within organizations. Failure to prioritize the needs of working mothers, such as providing access to paid maternity leave, can damage retention and cause demotivation in the workplace. Another issue is gender stereotyping. Labeling women as “bossy” when they show assertiveness, or framing women as caretakers or nurturers and men as leaders, subconsciously relegates them to certain roles and can ultimately hinder their progression. The lack of women in leadership positions is a self-perpetuating cycle because underrepresentation can discourage the next generation of women from aiming for the top.

Your network is your net worth

There is no doubt that who you know is just as important as what you know. Even with the best qualifications in the world, women’s careers are often stifled by not being a part of the “old boys’ network”. Networking and informal hiring often takes place in spaces that exclude or, at the very least, feel unwelcoming or inconvenient to women. Think: Members’ clubs, the golf course, or late-night drinks and breakfast briefings that don’t work with childcare responsibilities.

The “glass cliff” problem

When women are promoted to senior leadership positions, they can find themselves isolated and facing what is known as the “glass cliff”. In this scenario, a female leader is left alone and teetering on the edge, while trying to deal with an unsustainable position or an inherited business issue. Empirical data from the UK’s University of Exeter and others show women are overrepresented in leadership positions in businesses that are overexposed to high levels of risk, performing poorly on stock markets, or where the leadership role is precarious. Women in these scenarios have often been hired to “clean up the mess” left by previous leadership. The outcomes can reinforce the idea that men are more capable and successful as leaders.

Improve access to industry—starting from childhood

Reaching out to young women and supporting them to study science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects, or to learn more about payments, is a key way to build confidence from an early age and to promote the industry. This can be done via in-school talks and visits. It can be done by equipping schools’ careers advisory teams with information about pathways into the industry. Or it can be about collaborating with, and financially supporting, charities and organizations dedicated to boosting young women’s financial and banking literacy.

Be the company that makes the change

I believe those of us already working in payments have a responsibility to encourage women to join us and to take steps to help other women access the industry. It doesn’t just have to come in the form of big collaborations with action groups. From setting diversity objectives with our HR teams to actively participating in knowledge-sharing forums, or investing our time, capital, and intelligence in underrepresented communities—there is a wealth of measures we can take, both as individuals and within our organizations.

Lift everyone up

Many of the challenges facing women are systemic, from lack of access to maternity pay to long-standing social barriers. These all require deep changes to regulations and to global working cultures. The challenges are also intersectional. Age, class, sexual orientation, and race, among other factors, all influence women’s access and agency in our industry.

With that in mind, we can deliver combined agendas that make the industry more inclusive to everyone. Professional networks can and should be leveraged to bring different communities together; we find where one underrepresented group is promoted and supported, others are lifted up, too.

Mentoring is another important way to meet other women in the industry and to find role models to learn from, ask questions of, and emulate. This creates communities of women that can support and advocate for each other— vital for preventing the “glass cliff” problem.