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INCLUSION & DIVERSITY


ENCOURAGING WOMEN INTO NON-TRADITIONAL INDUSTRIES Progress can be made early on by encouraging women into industries where they are still not fully represented. Dr Shortland explains, “It goes right back to school days and careers education, and encouraging girls to enter industries that are not typically chosen by women. The proportion of women taking maths, science and engineering degrees is lower than men.” She quotes Eurostat figures, which


show that 54 per cent of all students in the 28 member countries of the EU at tertiary education level were women, of which 53 per cent were on bachelor programmes, 57 per cent were masters students and 48 per cent were doctoral students. Yet 74 per cent of engineering and construction students were male, and 63 per cent of natural sciences, maths, and ICT were male.


DIVERSITY IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS Jill Morris, senior HR business partner at Hitachi Vantara, says that UK businesses must


recognise the


ongoing gender imbalance as a major concern. Diversity is proven to increase workplace creativity, performance and, ultimately, a business’s bottom line. “While we’ve certainly made positive progress over the last couple of years, there’s still a long way to go until the technology


sector is truly diverse,” Morris says. “Breaking down established gender biases and empowering young women interested in STEM – no matter their level of expertise – should be made a primary concern for any modern business.” Despite efforts to encourage more


women into STEM careers, progress has been slow and more needs to be done, she says. “These issues should be tackled at a grassroots level, ensuring young women have access to the right mentors and given the opportunity to view STEM as a ‘normal’ – rather than ‘alternative’ – career path.”


MAKING FEMALE MANAGERS THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION Jane Sydenham,


investment director


at Rathbones, says her perception of International Women’s Day has changed dramatically in the last decade. “Ten years ago, it felt as though it was a good thing to celebrate, as there were always a small number of exceptional women who reached the highest echelons in their respective industries, and who were role models for the next generation. But in the industries where representation was very low, not much was changing,” she said. “In the last couple of years, the whole


conversation around women has changed so materially and I am much more hopeful that we are now going to see many more women making significant progress in their careers in terms of equal pay, promotions, and sharing the domestic


caring burden with their partners, so that not only the really exceptional succeed, but a much broader range of women from all backgrounds.”


ACCESS TO CAPITAL FOR FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS In the world of finance, many institutional investors employ no women at senior level, with industry-wide figures only six per cent overall. Jill Williams, investment director at Mercia, believes that a full and diverse investment team could break the deadlock, but this shouldn’t be achieved through tokenism. A recent report, the UK VC & Female


Founders Report, which was commissioned by the government, made for sober reading: it highlighted that for every £1 of venture capital investment, less than 1p goes to all-female founder teams. By comparison, all-male founder teams receive 89p and mixed-gender teams get the remaining 10p. The research will inform ongoing work to tackle the underfunding issue and ultimately boost the economy. Over the last five years, there has been


a concerted effort by organisations such as the British Business Angels Association to increase the numbers of senior women in the VC and private equity community, says Williams. Level 20, a not-for-profit organisation inspiring women to join the private equity industry, is targeting up to 20 per cent.“Today, the world of corporate finance and the intermediary market is male-dominated which may lead to unconscious bias and be off-putting to female founders,” she says. “However, as part of the investment process, Mercia holds assessment days where potential investees are invited to present their ideas and meet the members of the investment team who they would work with. This helps female- founded business owners who will take comfort from seeing that Mercia is far from being an all-male environment and there is less apprehension of bias (unconscious or otherwise).”


For free downloadable factsheets on diversity and inclusion visit our Global Mobility Toolkit at bit.ly/GMToolkit


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