Female students encouraged to break barriers in finance at careers event
Over 100 female students from across Scotland attended the inaugural Careers Insight Day at Edinburgh Napier University.
Organised by the financial services charity Future Asset, the event aimed to encourage young women to consider careers in the male-dominated sector, where only 12% of UK fund managers are currently female. If the rate of change stays the same, parity will not be achieved until 2215 – almost 200 years from now!
Through its Growing Future Assets Investment Competition, Future Asset is working with financial services organisations across Scotland to create pathways for female school and college-leavers into the industry.
Jen Mair, chair of Future Asset, said: “There is a desperate need in the industry for more diversity and more women, and I’m very passionate about driving that forward. It’s well established that diverse firms are more financially successful and better meet their clients’ needs.”
One of the speakers at the Careers Insight Day was author and broadcaster Dr Vanessa Collingridge.
Dr Collingridge said: “It’s such an important part of Scotland’s economy, we need to be thinking smarter about the kind of people coming into this. I really wish that a scheme like Future Asset had been around when I was growing up. Giving that opportunity to people is incredibly powerful and, I would say, transformational.”
Registration for the next Growing Future Assets Investment Competition opens on 14 August.