International Women’s Day was almost three months ago, however the sorts of conversations that we had then, are just as important now. Cara Robinson, Training & Competency Superviser at Truly Independent, is here to continue those conversations.
As you may distantly recall, March 8 was International Women’s Day (IWD). Along with the finance world as a whole, the adviser community marked the occasion with the now-traditional annual flurry of acknowledgements, insights and appeals.
As ever, this was all perfectly welcome and well-intentioned. But an uncomfortable question we really ought to be asking ourselves is this: what – if anything – is our industry doing to advance the cause of women during the other 364 days of the year?
Anyone who doesn’t believe more could and should be be done needs only to peruse a few recent studies, several of which were published to coincide with IWD. Both individually and collectively, they make for alarming reading.
Take a Rathbones survey of 3,000 UK adults with investable assets ranging from £25,000 to more than £2.5 million. According to its findings, women are highly engaged in saving, investing and pension planning but are more likely than men to doubt their own financial acumen.
Specifically, more than a third of women reckon they lack the knowledge required to manage their own investments. By comparison, less than a quarter of men consider themselves similarly ill-equipped.
This would seem to suggest women are more likely to need financial advice. The survey bears out that inference, with 73% – compared with 70% of men – saying they would be happy to pay for professional guidance that produces improved outcomes[1].
But hold on a minute. Another survey, carried out for Scottish Windows and Boring Morney’s Women and Wealth report, reveals women are twice as likely as men to be dissatisfied with the advice they receive.
Some 30% of women describe their advisers as “not as knowledgeable as expected”. Common complaints include unimaginative recommendations and poor communication. Only 15% of men share this frustration[2].
By way of wider context, we have to factor in that women are poised to pocket the greater part of the largest wealth transfer ever witnessed. The lion’s share will soon become the lioness’s share.
Perhaps the most straightforward explanation for this shift is that women tend to live longer than men and are therefore better placed to inherit the wealth handed down by older generations. One estimate claims $124 trillion will change hands in the US alone by 2048, with women set to acquire nearly three quarters of it[3].
So what does all this mean? In my view, every aspect of the above – the paucity of confidence, the willingness to engage, the levels of disappointment, the bigger picture – must steer us to the same conclusion: we desperately need more women advisers.
Of course, our industry has been wrestling with this challenge for as long as most people can remember. Significantly increasing the number of women advisers is rightly recognised as crucial to efforts to enhance inclusivity, meet more clients’ unique needs and narrow – or even close – the advice gap.
I happen to think the company I work for is notably committed to these ideals, but I’m not here to proclaim some sort of superiority. I feel it’s more useful to focus on some broader issues that have emerged from multiple industries and which are clearly applicable to our own.
Below are the five that spring most readily to my mind. Each centres on a potential barrier to meaningful progress. I offer them here simply in the hope that we all reflect on our policies and practices and give more thought to whether they fully support the quest for more women advisers – not just on IWD but day in, day out, year after year after year.
1. Women face extra pressure to prove their competence
A wealth of research into workplace experiences in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) shows women are still routinely viewed as intellectually inferior to their male colleagues. As a result, they’re likely to face additional pressure to demonstrate their worth. Even those who repeatedly prove their competence can struggle to advance their careers.
2. Women can prosper if there’s genuine meritocracy
Relatedly, the arguments over the pros and cons of “positive discrimination” have raged for decades and will very likely continue. Quotas and other initiatives have their place, but what’s frequently overlooked is that many women – at least if given the chance – would prefer to succeed on merit rather than via box-ticking exercises.
3. Women are unfairly stereotyped as best suited for “mothering” roles
Numerous studies have found women are often perceived as carers, supervisors, comforters or organisers – but seldom as strategists. This leads to them being handed responsibilities that can be time-consuming and demanding but which are relatively unlikely to propel them up the promotion ladder.
4. Women are expected to prioritise family over career
In tandem with the above, motherhood is still expected to interrupt or even end a woman’s working life. This “ticking timebomb” trope can prevent women from being promoted. In many instances, worst of all, the “threat” of family commitments is deemed enough to avoid hiring women in the first place.
5. Women can benefit enormously from mentors
Mentoring is among the most powerful means of getting to know an organisation and the individuals within it. Many women lean towards female sponsors and role models, but it’s important to realise there are also plenty of men who are more than willing to help bring about gender parity in the adviser community.
Sources:
[1] See, for example, Professional Paraplanner: “Women lag men in investment confidence”, March 10 2026 – https://professionalparaplanner.co.uk/women-lag-men-in-investment-confidence/.
[2] See, for example, Boring Money Insights and Scottish Widows: Women and Wealth: Building Better Adviser Relationships, 2025 – https://platform.scottishwidows.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Women-and-Wealth-Building-Better-Advice-Relationships.pdf.
[3] See, for example, Forbes: “Women are inheriting trillions. This is a seismic power shift”, July 31 2025 – https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmichelson2/2025/07/31/women-are-inheriting-trillions-this-is-a-seismic-power-shift/.
Main image: young, gen, women, smiling, happy, adam-winger-Xt4g9VbMljE-unsplash
