Inadequacy of female representation in the financial industry

Abstract

Finance is thought to be mostly a man’s world or a male dominated field. The number of males in this field easily out-number the number of females working in this industry. Even in the last few years, when the consumers of this industry due to the technological advancements have been people from every gender, every minority, yet the labour force shows a majority of it is composed and dominated by males. Through past literature, it has been found that this phenomenon is not only limited to developing or underdeveloped countries like India, Bangladesh, China, South Africa etc., but also is clearly visible in developed and powerful nations like the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The literature also shows that having women on the board not only improves the financial performance, but also the social performance of the firmbut still the number of women on the board is very less as compared to the number of men on the board. In order to study this issue, a research was conducted on real people working in this industry and the results did prove that women are underrepresented in this industry. This paper aims to find the major reasons for this lack of women employees in the finance industry starting from the clerical to executive positions and to understand the major obstructions female employees face while working in this industry and at the time of promotions. This study will also highlight women employees’ perception of the phenomenon of “Glass Ceiling” and whether it exists or not.