Advisers herald end of gender inequality

Speaking at the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) Female Excellence in Advice Award semi-finalists' roundtable, Wealth Enhancers co-founder and semi-finalist Sarah Riegelhuth said Gen Y can be the “solution to end gender inequality within the industry", leading to more females taking leadership roles.

“Within one generation we can eliminate all the gender equality issues, because they are a generation that will take action,” Ms Riegelhuth said.

“Reverse mentoring [is] a great way to engage that generation to be a positive part of the change for the older generation that are finding it more difficult to shift from the type of community they [are in],” she said.

Tudor Investassure managing director Naomi Rosenthal said another solution to the problem is encouraging men to play a more active part in involving women in opportunities to undertake leadership roles.

“Men need to be a part of this solution, we can’t just ignore that there are so many men out there that are as passionate as we are about the industry and they are so willing to see women grow in this industry,” Ms Rosenthal said.

“Whether that is through developmental opportunities, internal succession, formal mentoring or changing workplace culture, if [men] are not involved then nothing is necessarily going to change, because our voices as women aren’t big enough yet to be able to do this alone,” she said.