Boutiques bad for women?
Are you a female fund manager thinking of working for a boutique - you may be better off in a bigger firm.
Women have more chance of making it to the top in larger companies, according to research from accounting and consulting group Deloitte.
Just 3% of current board members in AIM-listed companies and 5% in FTSE SmallCap companies are female, according to the research, compared to 6% in FTSE 250 companies and 10% in the FTSE 100. This holds true for all types of company, including those in the banking, asset management and insurance sectors.
Looking at financial services, Joanna Black, a director at Edinburgh-based search firm Black Appointments, says she believes greater representation of women at the top in larger companies could have a lot to do with the greater flexibility such companies can offer women in the earlier stages of their careers when they are raising young children.
Her point is certainly supported by The Times list of the top 50 companies where women want to work, which featured Lloyds TSB, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and a host of other banks. RBS, for instance, offers family-friendly term-time working - allowing parents to be at home with their children in the school holidays.
Black, though, believes demographics could soon see an increase in women in top jobs across all company sizes. She says it's only now that women are reaching the top: "If you think about it, women only started making headway in big numbers in the workforce in the '80s."
