Banks diversity efforts are more than window-dressing

For many female undergraduate with an interest in investment banking, the

names Isabelle Terrillon, Julie Bower and Louise Barton will ring a bell.

All three women brought well publicised tribunal cases in the UK claiming sexual discrimination by their employer (Nomura, Schroder Securities and Investec respectively).

With this kind of publicity is it any wonder there are fewer women

than men in investment banking?

The banks have always suffered a bad image with horror storiesabout

20-hour days, the Old Boys Club and unfairness towards women being the

of the day.

A survey I conducted among 50 female undergraduates (including members of the Afro-Caribbean Society, the French Society and the Business Society) for this article gave the following results; while 24% said they would definitely consider a career in investment banking, 20% merely said they might do so and 56% said they would not. Hardly a big vote of confidence.

I am sure that many female students believe investment banking to be

too stressful, lacking a good social life and not conducive to family life. Those who are interested in such a career are not prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.

Female students believe the sector is discriminatory in a subtle rather than overt way.

It is seen as a male-dominated area where men do not encourage

women to join, make it difficult for them to get promoted and feel

threatened bytheir few successful femalecolleagues.

Women students also expect women in banking to have to work twice as hard as

the men to succeed. They also expect to be judged on their looks more than men are.

Myths

I believe that for the most part these beliefs are grossly unfair and

exaggerated.

It is true that long hours are common in the City of London, but only because they have to be; finance is a 24-hour ball game.

Sexual discrimination, be it overt or subtle, is not rampant and as for the Old Boys Club - well there are more men in investment banks than women, but there is no club.

Banks are increasingly gearing themselves towards greater gender equality, as a

more welcoming attitude to women in the workplace makes good business

sense.

Talk of equality and diversity is not just empty hype or snazzy soundbites;

banks really are making changes in leaps and bounds.

CSFB, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs have won recognition for their commitment to gender equality from Opportunity Now, which promotes women's rights at work.

Citigroup has been selected, for the 13th time, as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" by Working Mother magazine in the US.

More banks are working with GTI, a company that aims to provide an accurate view of working life across many employment sectors including investment banking.

In conjuction with host banks such as JP Morgan, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Merrill

Lynch and Goldman Sachs, GTI held an information reception in July forfemale undergraduates called "Invest in your Future".

More than 150 students attended the event at which they were given an insight into life in the City as a woman by some the banks' senior female executives.

Kathryn Jones, a human resources executive at Citigroup, had this to say on the low

number of women in investment banking:

"Across the investment banking sector there is a strong awareness that the number of women applying for graduate positions within our industry is low; for 2003 the average

percentage of female applications received by the major investment banks in

Europe was around 25%.

"This statistic highlights a major issue for us - attraction. Working together with our competitors we participate in events each year to positively redress the balance of women who apply to us.

" 'Capital Chances - Women in Banking' and 'Invest in Your Future' are just two of the annual

events designed to give access to information about the industry for first and second year undergraduates, enabling them to make informed decisions about their choice of career. "

In order to increase the number of female applicants Citigroup has an

initiative called CitiWomen, an internal women's network formed in 2002. It also

provides support and opportunities for women in Citigroup.

CitiWomen is involved inrecruitment initiatives such as Q&A sessions at LSE and other

UK universities for female students. Hopefully these initiatives dispel some of the

myths!

Banks really do want more women and they are eager for preconceived views to change.

Victoria Taylor, a graduate of LSE who joined the Citigroup sales and trading graduate training programme in 2002, said:

"My view of investment banking (before joining the industry) was pretty positive as I took a lot of

the negative stories you hear with a pinch of salt, although I knew it was an industry where the jobs are demanding and require hard work and quick thinking.

"I always saw investment banking as a very competitive industry which was

difficult to get into, and where in the past women have struggled to get

recognition and promotion, but for me that was part of the challenge.

"I have worked at Citigroup for a year now and my role provides unlimited

learning opportunities and early career responsibility. You do need to have drive and

interest in the industry, but in my view the only person who limits your own

success is yourself."

So no sexual discrimination; as for the long hours, there are many

areas in the industry that do not require anti-social working hours

such as human resources, operations and marketing, where the hours are fairly

predictable.

Banking is a wonderful and lucrative career option for women and there is no

reason to believe otherwise. A lot of women could be missing out on fantastic

career opportunites purely because of their scepticism and the old myths

surrounding the industry.

Taylor says: "My advice is to try not to be sceptical. The opportunities are

there but it requires hard work on your part. Try to attend as many

presentations as possible and speak to people in different business areas to

find out what they do and what interests you the most.

The myths surrounding investment banking, especially sexual discrimination,

are in my opinion just that - myths! Banks do not want only identikit public school-educated men, they want the best and the best comes from a pool that is wide and varied.

And please do not think the diversity trend stops with women.

Sexual orientation, disability and ethnicity do not affect a person's career

in the industry either. Several investment banks will be hosting an

"OUT in the City" reception for gay students in November as well as an open day

for students with disabilities.

Last year I was one of 10 undergraduates on a first-year internship

at Goldman Sachs, open to anyone but aimed at encouraging diversity. The gender split was even, while in ethnic terms one was a black African, seven were Asian and two were white.

Over the 10 weeks we attended a variety of evening receptions held by the

firm-wide Black Network and Asian Professionals Network. There seemed to be a

network for every under-represented group; not only in gender and ethnicity but

also sexual orientation.

The gist of it all was that Goldman wants more of the

under-represented groups to apply for jobs.

Something else that struck me at Goldman was its commitment to

more executives from ethnic minorities who are British. A number of black

and Asian executives at the bank are from overseas, mainly the US.

I was the only black African student on the first-year internship and in

spite of the diversity drive, I did not feel I was there on a sympathy

vote.

It was made exceptionally clear that I was there on my ability and I

enjoyed being the only first-year female black student - it

made me stand out and people remembered me easily!