Treasury Committee publishes Sexism in the City findings

Following its Sexism in the City inquiry into the barriers faced by women in financial services, the Treasury Committee has published a report of its findings.

Key findings include:

• there have been some incremental improvements for women working in financial services but the Committee was disappointed in the lack of progress on sexual harassment and bullying, including serious sexual misconduct;
• many firms still treat D&I as a “tick box” exercise rather than a core business priority;
• some sectors have seen no improvement in the proportion of women holding senior roles;
• maternity remains a significant barrier to women in financial services, with many leaving the industry after having children;
• the financial services sector has the largest gender pay gap of any sector in the UK economy – it could take 70 years to close it at the current rate of progress; and
• sexual harassment against women is worse in financial services than in many other sectors.

The report sets out the Committee’s recommendations for tackling sexism in financial services, including:

• all financial services firms should sign up to the voluntary Women in Finance Charter;
• the FCA and PRA should drop their plans for extensive D&I data reporting and target setting which would be costly for firms. Instead, firms’ boards and senior leadership should take more responsibility for improving D&I;
• the Government and regulators should encourage firms to:
  • consider equalising parental leave for men and women;
  • be transparent about their parental leave policies, including when advertising roles;
  • advertise as many flexible and part-time roles as possible to attract a wide talent pool, and especially women;
  • recognise the impact of menopause and establish policies and support for those affected;
• the employer size threshold for pay gap reporting should be reduced from 250 to 50 employees;
• legislation to mandate the inclusion of salary band information on job advertisements;
• a ban on prospective employers asking for salary history;
• the Government should strengthen whistleblowing legislation to provide greater protection in sexual harassment cases; and
• legislation to ban the use of NDAs in harassment cases.

The FCA has released a statement to confirm that it will consider the Committee’s feedback and recommendations carefully. It will prioritise proposals that tighten expectations on firms to tackle misconduct such as bullying and sexual harassment and will also consider the recommendations on whistleblowing and the use of NDAs.