WUNRN
Investment Europe - http://www.investmenteurope.net/regions/italy/the-gender-agenda-across-europe/
European Union - Gender Gap in
Work Pay & Power - Data, but Consider
Cultural Attitudes
& Diversity of Gender Employment, Not Just High Level
By: Viola
Caon | 01 Apr 2014
Although it cannot be said that women
necessarily bring better performance to financial services, additional
diversity in the area of selection may produce interesting improvements.
Although the proportion of women on
boards has gone from 11.9% in 2010 to 17.8% in 2013 in large European listed
companies, the gender gap is still far from being filled despite the several
official stances taken over the past years by the EU to make sure women were
equally represented in top positions.
But while looking at implementing laws
that try to increase the number of women in top positions is certainly a good
starting point, the whole issue is often linked to more rooted cultural
attitudes and may require increasing the number of women that work in the
industry altogether, not just in the higher positions.
Moreover, even when they sit in
company boardrooms, women continue to be paid less than their male colleague in
the same role.
TACKLING
THE ISSUE
The European Commission has recently released data on that gender pay gap
showing it has barely moved in recent years and still stands at around 16%. As
part of the same research, however, the Commission indicated the best examples
among the countries that have started tackling the issue.
The Austrian Law on Equal Treatment
obliges private companies and public sector bodies with more than 150 employees
to publish the average employees’ wages by occupational groups and gender every
two years.
In Finland, employers with 30 or more
employees are obliged to promote equality according to a plan concerning pay
and other terms of employment drawn up every year in cooperation with
employees’ representatives. The plan has to include an analysis of the
placement of women and men in different jobs, of the job classification as well
as of pay differentials. It must contain measures for achieving equal pay.
In France enterprises employing at
least 50 employees have an obligationto produce and action plans on gender
equality. Sanctions are foreseen if companies fail to do so. For the first
time, as a result of a 2012 decree, two firms were found in April 2013 not to
have complied with the legislation on equal pay.
Social partners are also obliged to
actively consider the reduction of the gender pay gap in collective bargaining.
Italian legislation includes the requirement for companies with more than 100
employees to compile a report on the working conditions of women and men in the
company.
The report is drafted every two years
and contains information about many factors, including the pay gap between
women and men in the organisation.
Despite all the actions taken, the European Commission also reported that the
most senior positions are still predominantly held by men, whether in business,
politics or other fields. Women in European member states only account for an
average of 18% of the members of boards of directors in the largest
publicly-listed companies, and 3% of the CEOs .
ITALY
AND “THE LESS REPRESENTED GENDER”
In August 2011, the Italian parliament
approved the law 120/2011 according to which all the companies listed within
the following year were obliged to leave one fifth of their boardroom to their
women employees, referred to as “the less represented gender”.
The law – dubbed Golfo-Mosca after the
two ministers who worked to have it approved – also requires that by the second
and third year after the implantation, women will have to make up a third of
the companies’ boardrooms.
By 2022 the law is meant to cease
enforcing and in case of non-compliance, the companies would be fined with
between €20,000 and €200,000 by trade unions. After 2022, the decision on the
number of women to have in boardrooms will return entirely to the hands of
employers.
Following the law’s enforcement, women
in Italian boardrooms went from 7.4% to 17.2%, the latest data from Consob –
the Italian regulatory body – show.
However, many argue, the percentage is
not a great one and, most of all, there is no evidence that employers will keep
appointing women to their boardrooms once the law expires.
Paola Schwizer, president of
Nedcommunity, an association aiming at enhancing the role of non-executive
members on both boards of directors and supervisory boards, points out that,
while the law effectively increased the numbers of women on boards in Italy,
the majority of them hold an independent director position.
“Before the 120/2011 law women in
boards were for the vast majority close relatives of the main shareholders.
Most of all, more than half (59.8%) of the women that currently sit on Italian
companies’ boardrooms are not CEOs nor CIOs, but cover more administrative
roles.”
While she acknowledges that the law
helped women get to boardrooms much faster than they would have otherwise,
Schwizer notes that the much-awaited cultural change that should be the basis
of an equal policy between men and women at top levels is still far away on the
horizon.
“Quite often when a company announces
the appointment of a woman to its board, the media report the implementation of
the law rather than said woman’s professional qualities as the main reason,”
she says.
Talking specifically about fund
selection, Schwizer warns fund managers and selectors to pay more attention to
the quality of fund and company integrity of corporate governance rather than
just running after strategies of risk control and diversification.
Carmine Di Noia, deputy director
general at Assonime, the association of Italian listed companies, sounds more
positive on the effects the law is having on Italian boardrooms and believes
ways exist to make its positive effect last beyond the law’s expiry date.
“It is important that shareholders of
companies, who elect boards in Italy, keep a certain level of gender equality
in their boards also after 2022. Our code of self-discipline explicitly urges
boards to pay attention to their members’ characteristics, which include
expertise, experience and gender diversification,” he explains.
Despite the law’s good intention,
however, the situation on the ground reveals that women still find it difficult
to establish their presence at top level positions.
Barbara Valaperti, senior consultant
at Korn Ferry, a source of leadership and talent consulting services, laments
the lack of women in top manager position in the Italian asset management
industry.
“As far as the asset management
industry is concerned, there are very few women in Italy in senior investment
positions (CIO or head of asset allocation). Most of the women we know have a
career in sales. Some of them have been able to reach senior position including
country head for international asset management companies,” she says.
Valaperti, who works on executive
recruitment and leadership development programmes, also notices that a more
diverse team will bring a variety of perspective, which may increase the
quality of the investment criteria. “More specifically, women are more
sensitive to the ethical and sustainable issues and generally they push to include
those criteria in their investment choices,” she says.
Claudia Segre, general secretary of
Italy’s Financial Markets Association, Assiom Forex, says few women work in
fund selection in Italy at present and more needs to be done to get them
involved.
“We need to persuade industry
associations to implement education programmes to attract more women
professionals to fund selection, so that they can make their views heard in the
industry,” she adds.
SELECTORS
VIEWS ACROSS EUROPE
Interestingly, despite the challenges identified, it seems the situation looks
less bleak for women involved in fund selection than for those working in other
sectors of the asset management industry across Europe.
That said, while the topic raises the
interest of female selectors in southern European countries, it seemed to be
less of an issue for women in the Nordics, despite suggestions from both areas
of strong ongoing disparity between men and women.
“There are more men than women, and a
ratio of one woman out of ten investment managers. Maybe a few more in fund
selection, but the ratio might then be two females out of ten,” said Maria
Björklund, portfolio manager, Private Equity, Real Estate & Infrastructure
at Postens Pensionsstiftelse in Sweden.
While confirming that the fund world
is still male dominated, Susanne Bolin Gärtner, head of Fund Selection at
Folksam said: “I do not really think of it so much. There was never a question
if I was a man or woman when I got my position.”
The tone slightly changed when asking
women in southern European countries such as Spain. Also noting a wide
disparity between men and women in the asset management and fund selection
sectors, Susana Michelena, financial adviser investment solutions at Allfunds
Bank, looks at motherhood and unequal pay as main reasons for the lack of women
in fund selection in Spain. “I believe the number of women will increase in the
future but there’s still a long path ahead. Family responsibilities and
sometimes a lower salary for the same job are the main reasons for this
inequality in numbers,” she says.
Marta Campello, portfolio manager at
Abante Asesores in Madrid, says her company has recently mapped Spanish active
managers and in a universe of 100 managers, only seven were women.
“However,” she says, “the number of
women in fund selection is rising. At present women make up roughly 20% of the
whole workforce in Spain.”
Looking at what’s next on the gender
agenda, Campello concludes: “Women should improve their selfconfidence, keep
their feminine characteristics, fight for their place in the market and keep
working to show that their results are as good as those achieved by men. We
should also all understand that diversity – both of gender, opinions, culture
and education – is better for the decision making process. It is richer and
more successful in most cases.”
______________________________________________________________________