Code First Girls, one of the leading providers of free coding courses for women in the UK, collaborates with over 100 partners in the UK and across the world to actively put women in IT jobs.
ClearBank joins 30 other fintech and financial services firms in working with Code First Girls, including Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, NatWest, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. The financial industry is the largest and fastest expanding customer segment for Code First Girls, with both fintechs and traditional banks eager to recruit more women.The advantages of actively employing women from non-technical backgrounds include innovative problem-solving for security issues, improved performance, and innovation across all industries.
There is already an alarming gender gap, with many women encountering severe impediments to joining STEM jobs, beginning in elementary school and extending throughout their life. Yet, in 2022, Code First Girls provided 44,861 opportunities for women to learn to code, compared to only 6,450 women pursuing undergraduate computing degrees in the UK.
The most current ONS Labour Force Survey finds large gender disparities in both the technology and financial industries. In the UK, women make up just 18% of computer programmers and software development professionals, web design professionals, and data analysts. According to Code First Girls' data, women make up just 31% of UK brokers, financial analysts, and advisers – 95,700 women vs 203,800 males.
More female representation in finance is critical for the industry's future. There is an indisputable link between executive team diversity and the possibility of financial outperformance. In fact, organisations with more than 30% female executives outperformed companies with little to no female executives.
Nonetheless, women continue to be promoted to management positions at a far lower rate than males, making it practically hard for businesses to set the groundwork for long-term success at higher levels. Women of colour make up only 4% of C-suite executives, a figure that hasn't changed appreciably in the last three years.
We need diversity today more than ever yet incorporating it into any company culture is difficult. Diverse teams are more imaginative, better at predicting transitions and providing organisations with a competitive advantage.
To solve part of the problems, firms and senior leadership may do is to be proactive in resolving workplace microaggressions. Implementing zero-tolerance rules for any sort of discrimination or harassment based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or any other characteristic is part of this. Businesses should also give resources for employees to report such behaviour, as well as training for managers and other leaders to detect and respond effectively to microaggressions.
Additionally, CEOs should assess their company's culture on a regular basis and make adjustments in areas that are not favourable to inclusion and diversity. Businesses must recognise the importance of DEI activities and broaden the scope of how net benefits are measured.
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