Top jobs are still for the City boys
British men think a woman’s financial place is in the home
Wednesday 8th July: British men do not blame testosterone fuelled bankers for the credit crunch and recession, research from money.co.uk has found. The study found that less than a quarter (22%) of men believe that the presence of more women in banking and finance boardrooms would have helped to prevent the excessive risk taking that contributed to the credit crunch and recession.
In addition, only 10% of men feel strongly that top finance and banking jobs are too male dominated, despite the fact that the credit crunch ‘hall of shame’[i] is almost entirely male:
1. Alan Greenspan (Former Chairman, US Federal Reserve)
2. Gordon Brown
3. George W. Bush
4. Hank Paulson (Former US Treasury Secretary)
5. Angelo Mozilo (Former CEO, Countrywide – the largest sub-prime mortgage lender in
the US)
6. Richard Fuld (Former CEO Lehman Brothers)
7. Fred Goodwin
8. Kathleen Corbet (Former president, Standard & Poors)
9. Hector Sants: (Chief Executive, FSA)
10. Maurice Greenberg (Former CEO, AIG)
Dr Glenda Stone, Chief Executive, Aurora Women’s Network commented: "The data is concerning as it shows significant time and effort are still required to update perceptions. It is likely that the new generation of men and women coming into the workforce may hold more contemporary views about the requirement of diversity for better innovation and risk awareness. The reality is that women bring hugely valuable skills and insight to positions of leadership. In addition to their professional and technical expertise, women tend to have good interpersonal and listening skills that make them strong managers. Corporate leaders need to face up to the increased risk for business if talented women are not hired into senior positions at a time when women are becoming increasingly more informed and demanding about career choices.”
Lessons from home?
The belief that Freda Goodwin would have been no better than Fred, does not however reflect the balance of decision making in households across the country.
According to the research, just 24% of men claim to make all household financial decisions, with money decisions shared between the sexes in 55% of British homes. The view also ignores the role that women tend to play in those decisions - 56% of women said they tend to want to reduce risk.
Battle of the sexes
As expected, opinions were split along gender lines. Findings included:
· 62% of women believe that top jobs in banking and finance are too male dominated (35% of men)
· 41% of women think a better gender balance in top City jobs would have help to curb excessive risk taking (22% of men)
Hannah Maundrell, Head of Content at money.co.uk said: “Whilst it is clear that many factors contributed to the global economic crisis, it is hard to ignore the fact that so many of the key players were male. “We’ll never know whether a stronger female influence in the City might have helped to prevent the problems that we all now face as a result of the credit crunch.
“However there is certainly evidence to suggest that women take a more balanced and long term view of risk and reward – from our research, that appears to be a role that many women play in household financial decisions across the country. It seems that many women would want Alistair Darling to look closely at the role women could play when he undertakes his promised review of City boardrooms.”
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