Why banker mums want that promotion more: ‘Fewer people tell you when to be at

The findings are part of a broad multi-year study in collaboration with The Wisdom Council and the London School of Economics aimed at uncovering the real reasons behind the ongoing lack of women in senior front line roles in banking and finance. It is supported by banks including Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Morgan Stanley.

Elise Badoy, deputy head of research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Citi — who has four children — said the finding of working mothers being more ambitious confirms her own experience.

“Sixteen years ago, when I went back to work after my first child, as I look back, society expects you to not go back to work and not be ambitious, but this is at odds with how I was feeling,” said Badoy, who is also head of research at the WIBF. “I was more ambitious than ever, so the survey finding struck a chord, that financial professional women with young children are particularly ambitious.”

Katy Giles, chief of staff for the capital markets at HSBC, said she was offered a less challenging role at her former employer Royal Bank of Scotland when she had her first child, but decided to switch banks instead.

“I wasn’t junior, and I could have just stayed where I was, but I really wanted to keep pushing myself and didn’t want to stand still just because I’d had a child,” she said.

READ  I’m in: Deal-hungry bankers push to go back to the office

The results of the WIBF survey challenge some widely-held assumptions about why women leave the financial sector. The so-called missing middle when women drop out of banking in the mid-ranks and therefore miss out on senior roles is often put down to having children, a lack of role models or banks’ unwillingness to allow flexible working.

Women generally were the most aspirational, with 69% of those with children and 68% of those without saying they were gunning for a senior role, compared with 56% of men, the survey found. Meanwhile, in another challenge to the stereotypes of why women drop out of banking, 72% of women with young children wanted to make it to a leadership position.

Giles said she pushed to become managing director at HSBC shortly before taking maternity leave with twins.

“I was reticent about putting myself forward, but one thing that became obvious was that you actually have more flexibility, the more senior you become,” she said. “There are fewer people telling you when to be at your desk and you gain extra trust.”

A higher proportion of women (66%), than men (63%) said they had asked for more responsibility or a “stretch assignment” over the past two years, shattering perceptions that women don’t push themselves towards promotions. However, a lack of opportunities was the biggest problem for women in banking, with 26% of those surveyed cited it as their main career frustration. For men, a lack of work-life balance was the worst part of their job, with 27% saying it was their largest issue.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 crisis has overhauled working practices in investment banks and shattered preconceptions bankers — in a sector that has traditionally demanded harsh hours and facetime in the office — should not be allowed to work flexibly.

Of the people currently in the industry, 93% of women and 94% of men said they can work flexibly without it impacting their…