#buysidewomen
"We do not need magic to transform
our world. We carry all of the
power we need inside ourselves
already”
J.K. Rowling
limited time, we only scratched the surface. To drill down
to understanding why and more importantly, what can
be done to improve the gender balance for the future, it
is clear that the focus should be on the next generation of
young women.
Our panellists agreed that their firms
tend to hire from the same pools of
universities, which in itself, are already
heavily male dominated. Unless firms
make a conscious effort to change their
recruitment profile, the majority of the
next generation of buy-side traders will
already be pre-determined to be men.
Group discussion at the global summit
suggested that firms would benefit from
broadening their search criteria for new
recruits and looking beyond the usual
maths and science degree courses.
whom have had children, are living proof that it is possible
to have both a family and career, with one head trader
working 4 days a week.
The debate unveiled that a few buy-side firms have
already established staff to cover those taking
parental leave and holidays and as the
“I attribute my success to
this – I never gave or took
any excuse”
Florence Nightingale
The perception of the banking and finance job market
may not be inspiring and positive after the financial crisis
of 2007/2008. With media reports on heavy sanctions
for investment firms, cinematic movies and televised
programmes depicting trading and the financial world as
corrupt and more often than not, fictional characters based
on male- dominated roles, this does not help the cause.
Interestingly, it was mentioned at the global summit group
discussion that some people perceive employment in the
trading world as ‘working for the devil’.
The next generation of women considering high-flying
careers in the financial world should not be deterred or
discriminated by the fact that at some point, they may need
to take a break from work to raise a family, as
nature intended. Our panellists, many of
#buysidewomen campaign gets stronger, we hope there
will be a shift in attitudes to accommodate for greater
diversity.
The all-star women panel agreed that women should be
empowered to apply for trading jobs and jobs should
be rewarded to the right candidate, regardless of
gender.
The challenges in diversity, however, are not limited to
gender. This is the first of an on-going series of Buy-side
Initiatives by the Buy-side Trading Community (BTC)
operated by K&KGC. Join in the #buysidewomen discussion
at our first BTC webinar session on 3 rd April 2019.
For more details and to get involved, become a member
of the BTC or to find out more, contact Anita Karppi on
[email protected]
“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think
that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow,
I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those
moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.”
Marissa Mayer, former Yahoo CEO
Spring 2019
www.buysideintel.com
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