With audience viewing having increased 5-fold since the last FIFA tournament, Engl和’s defeat over Scotl和 in June drew 破纪录的6人.1 million viewers on BBC, 38% of the available audience. This was followed by the 11.700万观众观看了英格兰输给美国的令人心碎的比赛(接受吧，爱岛)!)，证明女子足球可以像男子足球一样具有娱乐性和市场价值. Women’s football has been “the fastest growing sport ever in history”长达十年的热情热潮在今年破纪录的FIFA世界杯上达到高潮.
妇女为了在国际舞台上取得如此显赫的地位，不得不与系统性的文化障碍作斗争. These include the sport being male-dominated in the professional leagues, 缺乏尊重, 最小的期望, a sizeable pay gap 和 a dearth of visible role models. 听起来很熟悉?
尽管取得了一些进展, 金融服务仍然是一个男性主导的行业，许多女性经常遇到与足球运动员类似的性别平等障碍. 不幸的是，在金融机构(FIs)中，性别差异实际上正在加剧， hitting a 91% pay gap for earners over £1m in FIs, 和 22% for all earners (which jumps to 46% if you include bonuses). The distribution is far worse than the UK average pay gap of 9.7%. 像这样, 金融服务业可以从女足在实现男女平等的道路上取得的进展中获得启发.
Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight
在英格兰，女足终于得到了应有的关注和财政支持. After the decoupling of the men’s 和 women’s EPL leagues in 2017, the women’s teams can now receive independent endorsements. Over the last two years, the result has been a flood of new companies investing in football, with 60% of Women’s EPL clubs today having unique front-of-shirt sponsors, different to their male counterparts. VISA, a major FIFA sponsor, for the first time is now spending the same amount on the women’s tournament as the men’s. Matches are now broadcast during prime TV slots, which has made it accessible to 不 just the die-hard fans, but also to casual viewers 和 general sport enthusiasts.
It is worth remembering that women’s football has 不 been an overnight success. 在英格兰, 从1921年到1971年，足球协会禁止女性在会员俱乐部的场地上比赛. 直到1999年女足世界杯决赛售出了100多万张门票, did football’s national governing bodies really start to invest. 因此，毫不奇怪，今年的女足世界杯吸引了我们的注意力——这是因为我们现在有了一代能够在更好的经济和社会机会下发展自己才能的女性.
For financial institutions, 改善性别多样性同样需要通过结构变化进行代际转换. In 2015, Lord Davies set a target for women to occupy 33% of UK’s FTSE350 companies by 2020, 在2011年成功实现了确保富时100指数成分股公司董事会中女性比例达到25%的目标. 这些数字似乎很小，但它们表明了一件事——改变需要时间，但它是可以实现的.
对妇女更具包容性的渐进步骤可包括:平权行动措施, introducing gender quotas, blacking out names 和 personal identifiers from resumes, giving staff flexible working opportunities, improving maternity 和 paternity leave, promoting women to proliferate visible role models, initiating coaching programs 和 ensuring pay equality. Each action helps remove frictions for women entering the work place, they will 不 create gender equality overnight, but are steps in the right direction.
Create Viable Pathways for a New Generation
在足球, 我们今天看到的女性人才是为新一代创造的经济和社会途径的结果. Financial investments in both the league, 球员的工资和奖学金使职业足球成为一个可以实现的目标. 另外, 像亚历克斯·摩根和萨姆·科尔这样的榜样在球场上占据统治地位，给看电视的孩子们传递了一个强有力的信息.
虽然女性目前在全球金融和保险行业的职位中约占一半， they disproportionately fill the lower-level roles, are less likely to receive promotions 和 very few reach leadership positions. 全球最大的博彩平台 12% of CFO roles in the top 20 global financial firms are women, 在北美机构中，男性和女性从初级职位晋升到管理职位的差距为24%.
在试图雇佣更多女性时，一个常见的误解是，这个领域根本没有足够的合格候选人. Yet, what this reflects is 不 that there aren’t enough capable women, 但从历史上看，该行业在为女性提供足够的途径方面做得还不够.
The onus is on the industry to bring women to visible leadership roles, to offer specialised programs, 指导或支持, 进入学校和大学，宣传在金融领域取得成功所需的技能. 这将确保女性从年轻时就接触到这些选择，并能够采取措施“胜任”这些角色.
The Power of Collective Action
女足的成功是多年来大家共同努力的结果. 目前，女性和男性正在共同努力，以缩小足球领域的性别收入差距. 美国女队, in spite of their on-pitch dominance far outstripping the US men’s team, 是否正在与一场因薪酬不平等而引发的性别歧视的场外集体诉讼作斗争. 在世界范围内，国家队及其支持者正在联合起来争取男女薪酬平等; the Spanish team started a collective action lawsuit in 2015; Australia’s Matildas sent a message by cancelling a 2015 sell-out tour of the US to protest below-minimum wage pay; in Argentina 和 Brazil many of the top players retired early to advocate for better pay.
Though still a work in progress, change is happening. 由于罢工，澳大利亚女队的工资翻了一番(尽管仍远低于男队)。. 挪威和新西兰达成历史性协议，为本国女队提供男女同工同酬. 在南非，女队将在国际比赛中获得与男队相同的奖金. Gianna Infantino, the president of FIFA, has begun to initiate changes from the top, 承认女子比赛获得的观众人数与获得的资金不成比例.
Empowering women in business needs to be a combined team effort. Unfortunately, for too long 获得同工同酬的负担通常被放在女性身上，或者被认为是一种负担 “妇女问题”. 然而, partly as a result of the #metoo movement, 真正的, systemic extent of the problem is coming to the surface. What we have learnt from the women’s football movement, is that both men 和 women need to be agents of change. To accelerate progress, having men’s active support will “invoke a higher sense of common cause 和 collective action”.
开始行动吧
在女子足球方面取得的进展可以鼓舞那些致力于在国际足联实现性别多样化的人. It is key to remember that meaningful change takes time, 它需要平权行动，并投资于为年轻一代提供合适的途径. 重要的是, framing gender equality 不 as a women’s issue, but rather a collective effort that will be a net social benefit, is critical to breaking through traditional barriers in male-majority spaces.
At Woodhurst, we are really keen to play a part on this journey. 虽然仍然很小, 我们承认，作为一个由3名男性董事领导的团队，我们需要在寻求扩大团队的同时解决性别平衡问题. We are committed to ensuring equal pay 和 opportunities regardless of gender, 同时积极思考如何更好地培养一个包容的工作场所.
