Monetary Companies Companies Acknowledge ‘Terrible’ Tradition in UK Sexism Inquiry

Representatives from finance corporations throughout the Metropolis of London mentioned extra work was wanted to deal with gaping gender disparities within the business, even after firms have made positive factors previously 5 years.

Commerce teams representing hedge funds, banks and insurers offered figures on Wednesday to lawmakers investigating sexism in finance which confirmed they’d largely made progress on illustration of girls of their industries. Inside hedge funds, for instance, the share of girls has risen from 19% in 2019 to 27% this yr.

At senior ranges, that determine drops to round 20%, mentioned Adam Jacobs-Dean, a managing director at The Different Funding Administration Affiliation. “So it’s nonetheless clearly work to be finished on that entrance,” he mentioned.

The inquiry into the state of gender equality within the Metropolis follows a sequence of high-profile sexual harassment scandals this yr, together with allegations towards hedge fund titan Crispin Odey and the Confederation of British Trade, the nation’s largest enterprise foyer group. Wednesday’s listening to was meant to discover the progress the business has made since 2018, when the Treasury Committee led an inquiry into the problem.

Regardless of the illustration positive factors, the committee has obtained non-public proof exhibiting there’s nonetheless extra to be finished to reform the tradition of those industries, in accordance with Conservative Celebration politician Caroline Nokes.

For example, Nokes mentioned, the committee discovered of a 25-year-old lady who was instructed by a male supervisor to put on trousers when she attended a significant insurance coverage convention earlier this yr to guard herself from being groped by attendees.

“It’s bloody terrible,” Yvonne Braun, a director for the Affiliation of British Insurers, mentioned within the listening to. “No one means that there isn’t nonetheless numerous stuff happening which is totally unacceptable.”

{Photograph}: Commuters cross London Bridge in London, UK, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Photograph credit score: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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