With women set to become the primary beneficiaries of the greatest wealth transfer in Australia’s history, the report stated there needs to be more collaboration in the advice sector to address the structural barriers to female advisers moving through to senior positions.
Future IM/Pact’s report, Women in Wealth: The status of gender equality in Australian private wealth firms, found that women currently make up 25 per cent of roles in the advice career stream, with gender balance at entry-level positions falling dramatically at the adviser levels, where women comprise just 19 per cent of advisers and 13 per cent of senior advisers.
Yolanda Beattie, Future IM/Pact founder, said that while overall gender parity is possible by 2030 if the industry appoints, promotes and retains women at equal rates to men, the key adviser levels are moribund with women leaving at almost the same rate as they’re joining, largely due to talent poaching across firms.
“At this rate, it will be 2047 before parity is reached at the senior adviser level,” Beattie said.
“Increasing the number of female private wealth advisers will take bold leadership, a long-term commitment, and collaborating across industry to tackle the barriers that stop women from successfully applying for these roles that in many ways are ideally suited to them.”
As highlighted by JBWere’s 2024 report, The Growth of Women and Wealth, women are poised to inherit over 65 per cent of the projected $5 trillion wealth transfer by 2034. Additionally, the report found that women are growing their own wealth at a faster rate than men and have a preference to work with female advisers.
The report reveals barriers exist at the level of system, leader and self, making it disproportionately challenging for women to thrive in comparison to their male counterparts.
Limited promotion of the profession at universities, long career progression timelines that collide with starting a family, male-dominated environments, and subtle practices that exclude or diminish the contributions of women combine to create environments where women are three times more likely than men to exit at the key client service associate level – the step before they move into an adviser role.
