Gender pay gap ‘sobering’ reminder of disparities in money management industry

Money managers reported a median pay gap of 31% between men and women, according to a member survey by the U.K. Investment Association, which oversees £7.7 trillion ($10 trillion) in assets run by 250 firms.

Two-thirds of the 39 firms surveyed by the IA conduct equal-pay audits and monitor gender-related metrics, the survey found. As of April 5, 2018, some 68% of the surveyed firms have incorporated gender-diversity polices into their recruitment processes by ensuring they select recruiters that offer gender-balanced candidate shortlists. Some 23% of firms have used name blind CVs vs. 26% that have put women on interview panels.

Some 76% of respondents said they provide unconscious bias interview training to hiring managers. More than half of firms also have filtered out job advertisements to ensure female candidates were not put off by a language aimed at male candidates.

Firms also said they help women early in their careers and post pregnancy.

Over half of respondent firms, which run £4.5 trillion in assets, offer early career initiatives aimed at younger women.

Some 87% offer enhanced parental leave policies vs. 47% who actively promote parental leave policies, such as emergency child care funds.

Almost a third of respondents had a policy for women returning to workforce in place and 43% have developed mentoring programs for high potential women.

Still, just 1 in 10 survey respondents had a female CEO or a female chair.

"The sobering gender pay gap figures — as opposed to unequal pay, which is illegal — published for the first time last year were never going to be fixed overnight, and it will take time for the solutions that our industry are pursuing to bear fruit," IA CEO Chris Cummings said in a news release.

"But it is only by investing in long-term solutions that we can hardwire diversity into the foundations of our industry and help it become more diverse, inclusive and more successful, at every level."