Gender equality becomes a reality in fintech, 66% of the sector are women

Traditionally, the financial sector has been represented by men, but the arrival of fintech has brought a real revolution for the sector in many aspects, including gender equality. This has been reflected by the III Fintech Women Network Report, elaborated by the Spanish Fintech and Insurtech Association (AEFI), where encouraging data is revealed, such as the fact that more than 66% of jobs in financial technology companies are already held by women.

The third edition of this report, whose main goal is to make visible the role of women within the Spanish fintech ecosystem, has taken as a sample the companies associated with the AEFI, being a total of 140 companies that integrate more than 1700 women in the sector. According to this study, and in spite of the existence of a positive trend, it is necessary to “highlight the role of women in fintech and the recognition of their achievements and evolution in the company”, as well as to “promote female entrepreneurship within the sector and to boost equality of talent through the complete ecosystem”.

This declaration of purpose is aligned with the fulfilment of the SDGs, specifically with goal number five, which aims to “achieve gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls”. For the matter, 70% of the fintech companies analysed, consider that they comply with equality policies and are committed to achieving SDG 5. A goal that is increasingly closer in a sector where innovation and evolution are inherent and that, in a natural manner, is also transferred to their teams. In this way, start-ups are becoming real spearheads when it comes to betting on talent without any kind of condition or glass ceiling, thus promoting gender equality.

Beyond numerical equality, the role of women in technology applied to finance, has been consolidated in several aspects. Thus, the AEFI report highlights that more than 60% of women working in the fintech sector hold positions of responsibility, 14% of them being CEOs, 24% part of senior management and 59% in executive positions.

Regarding the profile of women working in the sector, it is concluded that the average age of female employees is 38 years; that more than 90% have a university degree related to the areas of economic sciences and administration, engineering, advertising, marketing and PR or law; that 40% have a postgraduate or master´s degree, and also that more than half of the women represented in this report have worked in the traditional financial and/or insurance sector. According to the association, the profile of women working in the fintech sector “knows the industry in depth and has a consistent knowledge of how the sector is structured and functions in order to apply constant improvements at its same speed”.

The importance of work-life balance in the workplace

One of the most revealing data in the reports is closely related to work-life balance. And that is the fact that almost half of the women represented consider that motherhood is a time when their career path can change a lot. This indicates that pregnancy is still considered one of the main concerns of working women, as it can be an obstacle to their working life and professional growth.

In spite of this perception, nearly 59% of women surveyed consider the fintech and insurtech sectors provide a fairer treat compared to other sectors and, more specifically, six out of ten consider it to be much more conciliatory than most traditional working sectors. “Work-life balance is one of the most important issues today. Women and men value the fact that a job promotes work-life balance, especially when they have children, but also the possibility of having time for themselves”, the association points out.

Behind all these figures, there are real experiences such as those lived in the Bankia Fintech by Innsomnia program, which has already accelerated several startups where women play a key role, as is the case of the data analysis platform Brainfintech, with Clara Castillejo as CEO, Mi Legado Digital, whose CEO is Judith Giner, or Afterbanks, whose founding team includes Pilar Lozano.

In short, although there is still a long way to go in achieving full gender equality in the workplace, fintech lays the foundations of how it is possible to value innovation and talent equally. Because good ideas do not understand about gender.