Diversity in the world of financial services

The word diversity strikes a whole different chord in every individual. Diversity to me is gender diversity when I think from my gut, diversity of viewpoints when I think from my head and diversity of portfolio when I think from a financial perspective!!

Diversity of portfolio in the world of financial services is well understood and hardly any debate required. Diversity of viewpoints, and thereby, diversity of people and what constitutes diversity is still a very debated perspective. The definition of diversity from a people perspective itself is becoming about race, colour, language, culture, sexual orientation, location and many other demographic factors. However, I believe that this is the next stage and is clearly a sequential evolution. The first stage of diversity, which cuts across all of these ethnic and demographic parameters is gender. And in India, we are miles away from diversity across multiple parameters when we have yet to find scalable, sustainable solutions to gender diversity, the most basic diversity of them all!

The fact that diversity and inclusion are key business imperatives is now well established.In May 2019, the subcommittee on diversity and inclusion convened a hearing entitled “Good for the Bottom Line: A Review of the Business Case for Diversity,” at which a panel of experts emphasized that inclusive organizations are more productive and profitable. Numerous studies have validated the benefits of diversity and inclusion within an organization.

The positive development is that we are all at least speaking about bias: conscious and unconscious and about the importance of gender diversity. It is becoming politically and socially incorrect to not have a diversity & inclusivity policy. Biased and prejudiced remarks, comments, jokes are no longer accepted as the norm. All of this progress is visible, at least in the corporate world of financial services. Many women have had to fight and prove their mettle for these barriers to become less rigid. Having said which, it is still a very fragile space that needs to be constantly defended and guarded. It is still a space where one incompetent/dishonest woman will be used to tarnish the entire community of women professionals, unlike the male community, where one incompetent/dishonest man will be judged for himself in isolation.

Women still have to bear the mantle of responsibility for the entire womankind, because the numbers are not large enough and the law of averages and percentages will work against them. The fallacy of data and the biases it strengthens are obvious, when there is inadequate data, that doesn’t constitute representative sample.

I have heard many women challenge my opinion on women having to take more responsibility for the cause of gender diversity and inclusions. Unfortunately, this is the reality with most minorities. While it is indisputable that the majority has the responsibility to make the culture more inclusive; in order for them to do so, the minority will have to create and strengthen the case for inclusion. Else, it is easy for the majority to keep the status quo (things have been working well so far), feel insecure and threatened (guard their turf ) rather than see the benefit of bringing on diversity.

This includes constantly evaluating traditional career paths or leadership programmes to ensure they are equitable and relevant to evolving business needs.Most importantly, leadership by example sends a powerful message on the value of mentoring, coaching and embracing the value of diversity.