Female advisers put off by boozy networking

Researchers from the University of Otago and RMIT University in Melbourne studied the reasons why women were only a small proportion of financial advisers in Australia and New Zealand.

Women are only 20% of Australian and 23.5% of New Zealand "financial advising professionals".

Helen Roberts, a senior lecturer in the University of Otago's department of accountancy and finance, said competitive sales-based structures, servicing client needs, difficulties networking, a dominant masculine management culture and the gendered nature of flexible work were getting in the way of women's financial advice career.

“These factors aren’t necessarily wrong from an employment law perspective, however we’ve discovered they significantly impact career progression and job satisfaction for female advisers,” Roberts said.