As we head into another IWD we take the time to celebrate progress while continuing to plot how we advance. A new survey, from Women in Media in Australia, shows that we still have more work to do. The findings showed that women make up just 21% of sources quoted on finance / business / banking in the media. Men particularly dominate as sources and experts as well as byline authors in sport, political and financial coverage.
The Global Institute for Women’s Leadership highlights a similar issue in the UK press with Women making up less than a fifth of those quoted in UK newspaper reporting of business and finance news. There is a slight glimmer of hope with the last 20 years showing a slow but steady rise in references to women, and in the reporting of their voices and opinions, this falls far short of equality, and women are even more underrepresented among notable business people featured in the press.
We do see some great initiatives underway which are changing the representation. The BBC 50:50 project is particularly notable with its data driven approach to shift gender and minority representation. The 2022 Impact report shows how the data driven approach has truly embedded diversity monitoring and changed the way teams think about who we see and hear from in our output.
As Tim Davie, BBC Director General, says: “The 50:50 Project plays a crucial role in finding new voices and helping [the BBC] better reflect the audiences we serve.” Lara Joannides, BBC’s Creative Diversity Lead for 50:50, adds: “When it comes to women’s representation, 50:50 has enriched our storytelling since its launch in 2017.”
Risky Women has been connecting and celebrating the amazing women in our industry and raising their profiles and voices since 2014. We are now into series 6 of the Risky Women Radio podcast, sharing career journeys of some of the top compliance leaders and capturing their expert opinions on topics from governance to risk intelligence and investigations, RegTech, transformation, ethics and more.
For some time it was speaker representation that was often the most visible issue in our industry as being unrepresentative of the capability, make up and skills available. Our Women to Watch was in direct action to this challenge. We wanted to do our bit to remove “manels” and see more female keynotes and not just moderators. Risky Women spotlights over 100 fabulous industry practitioners across the globe. The list continues to grow and is open to all and searchable to allow event organisers, journalists and others to find the right speaker or source on many compliance and risk hot topics.
We agree with Catherine Fox, an award winning journalist and author, that “Claims there haven’t been enough women with experience or clout to be quoted are well past their use-by date.” A Risky Women advisor, Catherine Fox, stated in a recent Sydney Morning Herald article that “Research shows women have been graduating from higher education in greater numbers than men for decades: they make up the majority of law, vet science, dentistry and medicine graduates and an increasing number of middle-managers across many sectors.” So there really is no excuse however, it seems we still need to highlight the female talent who are in plain sight. Risky Women will continue to do just that with our Women to Watch lists, podcasts and events.
Get ready to play your part and be a Risky Women Ringleader! We are ready to rev up your voice and let us all ROAR louder!
Kimberley Cole
Chief Risky Woman