Across our titles at Bridging & Commercial, Development Finance Today and BTL Insider, you will see the faces and opinions of women who lead, inspire and encourage positive change within financial services. We hope this encourages more women to enter and progress within the sector and highlight the key issues that businesses still need to help tackle together.

Here, we put together some of the best top tips for women working in a male-dominated industry, advice for those starting their careers, and what improvement we have already seen when it comes to inclusion — and what still needs to be done.

Women starting their careers in specialist finance

We need to continue pushing, supporting and recognising female talent, and at the centre of that is championing each other. Many of the female leaders in our industry today have had mentors on their journey and are happy to do the same for women who are new to the sector.

Tanya Elmaz, who was recently promoted to head of intermediary sales for commercial finance at Together, said: “It’s taken me 20 years, but now I am in a position where I can truly influence and implement change. I hope my success can encourage, inspire, and motivate other woman and people from more diverse backgrounds to achieve their ambitions. Keep pushing yourself, and you will succeed.”

Kay Williams, regional director at Ultimate Finance, suggested a number of ways to help women on their career path in specialist finance:

• introduce female networking events where speakers have faced challenges and share how they overcame them
• take women on as an apprentice
• create marketing that is female friendly and focused
• advertise and promote careers in the industry in female-driven venues
• have women in finance at career days at schools and colleges to increase their profile

Alex Upton, managing director of development finance at Hampshire Trust Bank, is optimistic for more women to enter the development industry. “Looking at the property market as a whole, 48% of property investors in the rental market are women,” she highlighted, “so, if women are owning and managing the end product, then it’s only a matter of time before they start making that product.”

Alex urges the industry to keep pushing forward to reap the benefits of having more women in senior roles. “When you look at [our] wider team, there are fewer women; overall, females make up just over 25% of the team. I’m hopeful that by having more women in senior positions more women want to join our growing team.”

Tangible improvement around representation of women in the industry

In recent years, a bigger focus on diversity and inclusion (D&I) within the specialist finance market have made for a more inclusive environment. For example, topics such as the menopause are finally being given the airtime and education it deserves. According to UK Finance, there are 128,000 women working in financial services who are currently going through menopause, with “sobering” research from the FSSC and Standard Chartered Bank finding 25% of women were likely to leave the workforce due to their menopause experience. A further 25% were considering early retirement and almost half (47%) were less inclined to apply for a promotion. Considering recruitment is time and time again a key challenge within the specialist finance sector – this is a staggering, yet solvable, problem.

•   'Stand up for what you believe in and put yourself forward'
•   'We need to see more women in senior positions inspiring and mentoring the next generation'
•   'The power of women coming together and achieving great things has the potential to shape a better industry'

“Over the years, I have seen women vilified, on numerous occasions, by businesses and its leaders who don’t support pregnancy and maternity leave. This is shameful and still exists in some industries,” said Alison Houghton-Corfield, national relationship director at Master Private Finance. “Couple this with perimenopause and menopause at the beck-end of our childbearing years, and we have a lot of challenges on a daily basis. Menopause is something not often discussed, but it’s happening in your businesses if you have ladies of a certain age.”

Alison believes the majority aren’t aware of menopause and doesn’t think enough businesses are discussing it in the workplace or have policies in place for it. “Menopause, for some women, can be completely debilitating — both physically and mentally,” she stated, “the consistent lack of quality sleep alone can change a person entirely. With this can come irritability, agitation, lack of focus and concentration. Women can feel like they’re not on their A-game and this can have a massive psychological impact. Hot sweats are so embarrassing and completely out of any woman’s control. Two showers in the morning was the norm for me for many months; I’d get showered and start getting ready and then I’d have a hot flush and have to get showered and changed again. This alone brought huge pressures, as I didn’t want to be late for work and I certainly didn’t want to have to explain why I was late for work. And so the vicious cycle begins, you start getting up earlier for work after a night of broken sleep to make sure you’re not late and, as the week progresses, the exhaustion starts to kick in and you lose focus and concentration. This exhaustion then can start to manifest itself in all kinds of different ways: The random thoughts, ‘Have I lost my edge? Can I still do this job? What’s wrong with me? Will I fall asleep at the wheel when driving? Should I resign? Will I sleep well tonight?’ It can be relentless and immensely isolating, and I haven’t even started on the brain fog and numerous other symptoms, many women experience.”

Nonetheless, Alison shared that it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom; there are treatments out there which can help most, but firstly women need to feel comfortable discussing menopause with their employers. “To all the ladies experiencing this, I guarantee you, no matter how bad you feel, you’re not alone, we’re just not speaking about it. To all the men (and some women), we want you to understand, and as difficult and as personal as these conversations may be, we need you to be sensitive and to support us. To all the businesses who are supporting menopausal women, take a bow please, as you probably have no idea how much you are helping.”

It’s good news to know that progress is happening around menopause and other issues women face. Last year, OSB Group ran a series of events to highlight World Menopause Day to give a basic introduction and offer support, and Pepper Money launched a number of workshops to cover a wide range of topics, including menopause, demystifying neurodiversity, inclusive leadership and unconscious bias for managers, religion and beliefs, and being an ally in the workplace.

Today (8^th March), The Brightstar Group is organising various workshops on key issues for women in the workplace and how they can serve as barriers when it comes to opportunity, progress and achievement, and this includes relationship breakdown, pregnancy, parenting, menopause and women’s health.

“We’ve seen the industry come on leaps and bounds in terms of diversity in recent years,” commented Tanya, who shared that Together aims to have 50% of senior management roles filled by women by 2026.

“There are a lot more women in business networking events and female awards ceremonies recognising the achievement of women,” added Kay. “As a business, we are more conscious and intentional in carrying out female-focused activities … to attract and meet the preferences of women.”

The specialist finance market has thankfully seen a marked increase in the prominence of women in recent years with published articles, events, appointments and promotions being much more widely highlighted. “I see this as a hugely positive thing and hopefully this increased visibility will give young women entering the industry people to look up to and will empower them to push themselves forward in their own careers,” stated Claire Newman, director of bridging at Spring Finance. “This should be the case with promoting diversity across the industry in all aspects, not just limited to increasing the number of women.”

Louise Young, senior underwriter at Spring Finance, noted that flexibility in hours and hybrid working is now essential for women (and men) with young children. “Prior to lockdown, I believe it was harder for women, especially with young children, to be considered for [more senior] roles due to time constraints with being in the office 9-5, Monday to Friday. I believe there are a lot of young women out there that have the experience and knowledge, that are at least as good as their male colleagues and of whom previously may have not been considered for certain things within their career due to childcare.”

While this sea of change has helped level the playing field, sectors within specialist finance are still struggling when it comes to gender diversity, and Tanya appreciates the progress we have seen may not be reflective of the whole industry. “While we have moved forward, there is still work to do and challenges that need to be addressed,” she stated. “We still need to see more women in senior positions such as board or CEO Level. The gender pay gap is still an issue too, and something I really hope that companies in our market look to combat.”

Ultimately, Alex believes this comes down to cultural change. “Cultural change seems daunting; as humans, we want to believe that cultures are permanent and difficult to change — that’s why we have cultures, they give us something solid to hold onto. But we are much more adaptable than we give ourselves credit for. There are loads of examples: a couple of years ago, the current prevalence of flexible working would have seemed impossible, and now a five-day week in the office seems crazy; the indoor smoking ban had the whole country up in arms, and now the thought of sitting at a table with someone smoking next to me seems mad; all-seater football stadiums; not having a land line. We can change, and we can be the change.”

Top tips for women navigating a male-dominated industry

According to Tanya — who has had to overcome different challenges at numerous points in her career, and admits she felt like she had to work harder than those around her to prove herself in previous roles — confidence is key. “Never wait until you are absolutely perfect at every aspect of your desired role to go for it,” she said. “We never stop learning, evolving and developing our skills as we work and gain experience. Never be afraid of hard work though, you don’t need to be perfect, but you do need to give your absolute best in what you do.”

Kay agrees that confidence is of prime importance: “I would advise women to be confident in who they are, as they bring a different dynamic to the table. Women are often more relational and can use this to their advantage when building rapport and managing customer relationships. We should not view working with men as being any different and should have the same approach.”

Ginny Warby, BDM for bridging at Spring Finance, shared that any woman who wants to make her way in finance should believe in themself, work hard, and don’t let anybody tell them otherwise. “There are so many strong women around that are visible in the industry so, if you need a bit of help and advice, all you have to do is pick up the phone and call — we will always do our best to support you.”

Eve Waterman, relationship manager at Ultimate Finance, shares her top tip: find an employer who truly understands what a work-life balance actually means to their employees to ensure women aren’t unfairly penalised for having children and are able to remain within the industry if they do so. “It makes no difference if you are male or female; if you are good at your role, you will succeed,” she commented. “For me, this entailed obtaining industry specific qualifications to raise my profile over and above those who didn’t.”

For Dawn Brown, relationship manager at Ultimate Finance, communication is key. “In my experience, men and women can communicate in different ways, and trying to understand those around you — both male and female — helps to bridge that gap. Having confidence in your knowledge and skills also allows you to stand side by side with your male colleagues in the knowledge that you add value. My final tip would be to embrace being a woman. We have lots of strengths such as empathy, patience and relationship building (which men have of course!) but these are definite advantages that we as women can bring to the workplace.”

The best advice that Claire has been given during her career is to believe in yourself and your ability and to be your own biggest fan. “If you don’t believe in yourself and promote yourself, then no one else will. Also, don’t be afraid to make mistakes — it’s the best way to learn."