The World Federation of Exchanges have seen a record 121 exchanges and central counterparties (CCPs) involved in the annual “Ring the Bell” initiative to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, yesterday (8 March).
This marks the eighth consecutive year of the initiative where exchanges and CCPs globally ring opening or closing bells to promote gender equality and highlight the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace, and recognise the contribution of women in financial services and beyond.
The Ring the Bell events, both in-person and virtual, started on 1 March and will last for two weeks.
This year, the IWD theme was “Break the Bias”, which aims to highlight the conscious and unconscious biases faced by women in the workplace and in other aspects of their lives.
Commenting on this years’ IWD, Nandini Sukumar, CEO of the World Federation of Exchange 2022 Women Leaders, says: “Exchanges and CCPs celebrate the role of women in the workplace and look forward to even greater progress in the years ahead. By ringing the bell, public markets are giving voice and visibility to women everywhere.’’
Speaking to Asset Servicing Times’ ahead of this IWD, Keisha Bell, head of diverse talent management and advancement at DTCC, comments: “The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused women in the financial services sector to reconsider aspects within their organisations that are most important to them.
“In turn, their employers are re-assessing what to prioritise to create an inclusive work environment. A sense of belonging has emerged as a key differentiator, with employees increasingly placing importance on the support they receive from their organisation.”
She adds: “Women, and disproportionately women of colour, bore the brunt of the challenges that were created during the pandemic. Specifically, burnout and other mental health issues have emerged as key challenges over the past two years, which has significantly impacted their work-life balance. At DTCC, we use anonymised diversity data to identify and gain insights into areas of priority and opportunity. This helps us anticipate and address such issues before they materialise.”
“Also as a result of the pandemic, we are seeing women in the workplace increasingly demand flexibility and employment terms that better suit their lifestyles. It is vital that the industry takes heed of this in order to ensure the continued acquisition and retention of female talent.”
Discussing how more women can look to pursue roles in asset servicing, Marina Kudryavtseva, head of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) division at Exactpro, comments: “Since the very beginning I have been thrilled with what I do: I have always been into fintech and taking on challenges. Working at Exactpro provides me with both and I really hope that, through my role as head of DLT, I can help inspire more women to pursue challenging and knowledge-driven careers in finance and technology.
She adds: “While these two industries continue to find it challenging to attract female talent, I do believe the situation is gradually improving. We see more women achieve complex technological and senior management roles. Noticeably, women are increasingly confident about their abilities to take on similar responsibilities, workload, and risks, as their male counterparts.
“I have also seen the benefits of a gender-diverse team first-hand; their creative approaches and thinking, as well as their readiness to help and support each other, make it possible for us to succeed at any difficult task we undertake.”
Image: nataba 