FAAA acknowledges gender divide in financial advice

Speaking at the FAAA International Women’s Day event, FAAA chief executive Sarah Abood welcomed moves that have seen the average adviser age decrease by almost a decade to 48 years old.

However, she said, there is still work to be done on the profession’s gender split.

“We still have a way to go when it comes to diversity; our member base is 72 per cent male. The percentage of females is increasing but it’s increasing really, really slowly. Of the women in the profession, 67 per cent of them are under 50 and 42 per cent of our student members are women," Abood said.

“We can see the proportion of representation is starting to get more equal.

“I am not suggesting male advisers are not well placed to help their female clients, just as female advisers are very well placed to help their male ones with their needs. The point is that to be strong as a profession, it ought to represent the community it serves and we clearly have some work to do.”

With this in mind, she referenced the FAAA’s mentoring program, which was launched in February 2022 with a $2.2 million grant from the Office for Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

The program aimed to support women to further their careers in financial services by matching eligible women who were seeking guidance and support with more experienced mentors. This included online training and reading materials, scheduled webinars to track progress, and monthly contact between mentor and mentee.

The first six-month program paired 96 mentors and mentees from February to August 2022, while the second program paired 36 mentors and mentees from March to October 2023. 

While it has since run out of government funding, Abood said the FAAA is seeking sponsors for it to continue.

“We received absolutely fantastic feedback from the participants and the results have been nothing short of incredible. We would like to be able to continue this so we are looking for support to continue these initiatives that will make a meaningful difference,” she said.

Anne Palmer, general manager for education and professionalism at the FAAA, said: “This program shows that demand for female financial advisers is there. We need more of them coming into our profession to ensure we have enough advisers to serve the needs of the growing number of Australian consumers seeking advice.

“It’s a real positive of this profession that it abounds with advisers who genuinely love to help each other and who get great satisfaction from seeing the success of their colleagues.”