自上一届国际足联锦标赛以来，观众人数增加了5倍, 英格兰队在6月战平了苏格兰队 破纪录的6人.BBC有100万观众， 38%的观众. 紧随其后的是11.7m viewers who watched Engl和’s heartbreaking loss to the USA (take that, Love Isl和!), proving the women’s game can st和alone by being as entertaining 和 marketable as the men’s. 女子足球一直是 “历史上发展最快的运动”, with the decade-long enthusiasm boom culminating in this year’s record-breaking FIFA World Cup.
Women have had to battle systemic cultural barriers to achieve this level of eminence in the international arena. 其中包括在职业联赛中由男性主导的运动, 缺乏尊重, 最小的期望, 巨大的收入差距和缺乏可见的榜样. 听起来很熟悉?
尽管取得了一些进展, financial services is still a male-dominated industry with many women often experiencing similar barriers to gender equality as the footballers. Unfortunately, in financial institutions (FIs) the gender divide is actually worsening, 收入超过100万英镑的家庭收入差距达到91%所有收入者占22%(如果算上奖金，这一比例将跃升至46%)。. 这种分配比英国平均工资差距(9)还要糟糕得多.7%. 像这样, financial services can take inspiration from how women’s football has progressed on the path to parity.
改变不会在一夜之间发生
在英格兰, women’s football is finally getting the attention, 和 financial backing, it deserves. 2017年英超男女联赛脱钩后, 女队现在可以获得独立代言. 在过去的两年里, 其结果是大量新公司投资足球, 如今，60%的英超女足俱乐部都有独特的球衣正面赞助商, 不同于他们的男性同行. VISA，国际足联的主要赞助商，现在第一次 在女子比赛上的花费与男子比赛相同. 比赛现在在黄金时段播出, 这使得它不仅能被铁杆粉丝所接受, 但也对普通观众和一般体育爱好者.
值得记住的是，女足并非一夜成名. 在英格兰, the Football Association banned women playing on members’ clubs ground from 1921 until 1971. It wasn’t until over 1 million tickets were sold to the 1999 Women’s World Cup Finals, 足球国家管理机构真的开始投资了吗. It is no surprise then that this year the Women’s FIFA World Cup is capturing our attention – it is because we have now had a generation of women who have been able to develop their talent with better financial 和 social opportunities.
金融机构, improving gender diversity is going to similarly require a generational shift through structural changes. 2015年，戴维斯勋爵设定了一个目标 在英国富时350指数成份股公司中，女性占33% by 2020, riding off the successful target in 2011 to ensure women made up 25% of FTSE100 companies’ boards. These numbers may seem small but they show one thing – change takes time but it can be achieved.
Progressive steps to being more inclusive to women could include: affirmative action measures, 引入性别配额, 把简历上的名字和个人标识涂掉, 给予员工灵活的工作机会, 完善产假和陪产假制度, 促进女性成为更多可见的榜样, 启动培训项目，确保薪酬平等. 每一项行动都有助于消除女性进入职场的摩擦, 他们不会在一夜之间创造性别平等, 但这些都是朝着正确方向迈出的步骤.
为新一代创造可行的途径
在足球, the female talent we see today is a result of the economic 和 social pathways created for a new generation. 在这两个联盟的金融投资, player wages 和 scholarships have allowed professional soccer to become an attainable goal. 另外, having visible role models like Alex Morgan 和 Sam Kerr dominate on the pitch sends a powerful message to young kids watching on TV.
Whilst women now make up roughly half of the roles in financial 和 insurance industries worldwide, 他们不成比例地填补了较低层次的职位, 获得晋升的可能性更小，很少有人能达到领导职位. 在全球排名前20的金融公司中，大约12%的首席财务官是女性, 和 there is a 24% gap in promotions from entry-level to management position between men 和 women in North American institutions.
A common myth when trying to hire more women is that there simply aren’t enough qualified c和idates to in the field. 然而，这反映的是 不 有能力的女性不够多, but that the industry hasn’t historically done enough to provide adequate pathways for women.
这个行业有责任让女性担任可见的领导角色, 提供专门的课程, 指导或支持, to get into schools 和 universities to advertise the skills needed to be successful in finance. This will ensure that women are exposed to these options from a young age 和 can take steps towards being ‘qualified’ for these roles.
集体行动的力量
The success of women’s football has been a cumulative result of years of collective action. Currently, women 和 men are coming together to fight to close the gender pay gap in football. 美国女队, 尽管他们在球场上的统治力远远超过美国男队, is battling an off-pitch class action law suit for gender discrimination due to unequal pay. Worldwide, national teams 和 their supporters are b和ing together to get gender pay equality; the Spanish team started a collective action lawsuit in 2015; Australia’s Matildas sent a message by cancelling a 2015 sell-out tour of the US to protest below-minimum wage pay; in Argentina 和 Brazil many of the top players retired early to advocate for better pay.
尽管仍在进行中，但变化正在发生. The Australian women’s team had their pay doubled as a result of the strike (though still far less than the men’s team). Norway 和 New Zeal和 struck historic deals offering women equal pay to their women’s team. In South Africa, women will now earn the same bonuses as the male teams in international tournaments. 国际足联主席因凡蒂诺(Gianna Infantino)已经开始这么做了 从高层开始变更, acknowledging the spectatorship the women’s game receives is 不 proportional to the funding it gets.
在商界赋予女性权力需要团队的共同努力. 不幸的是，时间太长了 the burden of getting equal pay has been generally placed on women or framed as a “妇女问题”. 然而, 部分原因是#metoo运动, 真正的, 问题的系统性程度正在浮出水面. 我们从女子足球运动中学到的是，这两个男人 和 女性需要成为变革的推动者. 要加快进步，需要男性的积极支持 唤起更高层次的共同事业和集体行动意识.
开始行动吧
Those committed to achieving gender diversity in FIs can be encouraged by the progress made in women’s football. 关键是要记住，有意义的改变需要时间, it requires affirmative action 和 investing in proper pathways for younger generations. 重要的是, 性别平等不是女性的问题, 而是一个集体的努力，这将是一个净社会效益, 在男性占多数的空间中，突破传统障碍的关键是什么.
在伍德赫斯特，我们真的渴望在这一旅程中发挥作用. 虽然仍然很小, we acknowledge as a team led by 3 male directors we need to address the gender balance as we seek to exp和 our team. 我们致力于确保男女同工同酬和机会均等, as well as being actively mindful 和 reflective of how we can better cultivate an inclusive workplace.
