84% of People in Fintech Believe Male-Dominated Media Profiles Reflect Poor Support for Women

The Heard, the women in fintech spokesperson index, today releases its first research report into attitudes toward public speaking in the industry. When it comes to events and content, only 31% of all people surveyed believe event organisers and content producers do a good job of embracing gender diversity.

A further 85% say they notice when event line-ups don’t represent women and non-binary people well. While public speaking and publicity may feel like a very small part of the fintech and financial services universe, with a plethora of content and events being produced, its relevance to the industry is growing.

And as many fintech and financial services companies report finding it hard to attract diverse talent, 84% of all people surveyed said they would assume that a company doesn’t support women very well internally if they only profile male executives in the media or via events.

The importance of public opportunities:

• It’s easy to see speaking publicly as simply a PR exercise, but this is no longer the case.
• A huge 94% of both men and women surveyed said more public speaking opportunities would benefit their career, with over half (52%) saying that more external speaking engagements would help them accelerate towards goals set by their current employer. This included: finding marketing opportunities, securing partnerships, and raising the profile of the company’s work.

What’s holding women and non-binary speakers back:

• Almost 40% of women and non-binary people said they didn’t think of themselves as an expert, and this prevented them from taking on opportunities. This was double the number of men at 20%.
• On top of that, over a third of women and non-binary people (36%) said they didn’t know how to secure these opportunities, and a further 20% said they’re not sure if they need permission or are ‘allowed’ to take part in speaking.
• Hesitancy does appear to be a strong factor in this case, and women and non-binary people are also 5x more likely to worry about saying something they shouldn’t about their employer than men (2% vs 11%).

Chantal Swainston, Founder of The Heard said: We know that fintech and financial services is a male dominated field, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t brilliant women and non-binary people working in the industry too. By working a bit harder to bring them into the spotlight, businesses can demonstrate the great diverse talent already in their teams, and in turn, help attract more candidates in the future.

Public speaking is a universal fear, and the only way to get better is through practice. We should stop expecting people to flip a charisma switch when they reach a certain level of seniority. As an industry, we need to look at speaking training and practice earlier in the career trajectory, which can help employees develop essential soft skills for life, as well as increase the number of positive spokespeople businesses can draw on when opportunities arise.

The Heard calls on fintech companies, event organisers, and content creators to prioritise gender diversity through inclusive representation. Providing targeted training can empower women and non-binary professionals to confidently engage in public speaking opportunities