FLASH FRIDAY is a weekly content series looking at the past, present and future of capital markets trading and technology. FLASH FRIDAY is sponsored by Instinet, a Nomura company.
On Saturday 18 October the professional dancers opened the Strictly Come Dancing television show in the UK with a group dance based on the stock market in which their performance was surrounded by a display of moving price tickers.
They were wearing black suits but it is fair to say that they did not look like or behave like typical traders. From the outside it looks like the male and female professionals are treated in the same way on the show, and it is fair that this is still not the case in finance.
A recent experiment found that participants rated a fictitious “Stephanie” as less competent than a male counterpart “Stephen” in financial services despite identical performance with bias was particularly pronounced among male evaluators.
An analysis from the LSE published this month concluded that gender bias distorts the assessment of performance of women in the financial sector.
The research, Advancing Women in Financial Services: Productivity and Merit, is the culmination of Women in Banking and Finance’s Accelerating Change Together (ACT) research programme, led by Dr Grace Lordan, founding director of The Inclusion Initiative at LSE.
Lordan said in a statement that, on average, women in financial services still do not have equal opportunities, visibility and voice.
“I would love the legacy of ACT to be that we see equal opportunities, visibility and voice for all colleagues in financial services that is determined solely by merit,” she added.
Lordan’s new research found that senior-level gender diversity raises innovation, once representation exceeds approximately 30% in growth sectors.
Anna Lane, chief executive of Women in Banking & Finance, said in a statement that if the financial services sector gets inclusion right, the productivity dividend flows far beyond the industry. She said: “Meritocracy isn’t just a moral principle, it’s the route to stronger, fairer growth.”
Maybe finance needs to learn something from the dance world. The performance will only be great if the dancers work in harmony with their partner and with the music.
