As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we’re asking many of the women working in financial services for their reflections and experiences about what it means to them to be a woman working in finance.
Here, Thora Kehoe, Chief Product Officer, Smartr365 , tells us why she still believes there’s work to be done to close the gender gap.
“My role bridges Financial Services and Technology, both of which have a poor track record when it comes to gender diversity. Where leadership roles have become more diverse, you can see the impact it has on their respective teams. Of course, we know that there is still a lot of work to be done to narrow the gender gap in business. I recently sat down for a strategic meeting with a top tier one bank, and all bar one of those sitting at the table were women. While this is very promising, we did all comment on how unusual a situation that was.”
“I believe that innovation is everything. To get ahead and stay at the top, you must be constantly improving, challenging norms, and evolving. It is well documented that by including people with different opinions and lived experiences as decision makers in your team, you will come up with more innovative and wholistic solutions and products. Malcolm Gladwell explores this well in his book Blink. Our mental unconscious informs every decision we make and can lead to blind spots. By including greater gender diversity as a business, it’s advantageous for all; employee diversity, clients feel represented and seen, and business decisions are backed by a broader set of unconscious assumptions and opinions leading to better informed decision making.
