You might have to name your next daughter Mark

By Rebecca Thomas, Founder and CEO, Mint Asset Management

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Impact Report 2022 by Global Women and Champions for Change, showed that only 14% or 7 of NZX50 companies had female CEOs. Which is astonishing when you consider that in 2022 women make up 47% of New Zealand’s workforce. The DEI Impact Report estimated that if female workforce participation was to increase to 50% by 2030, this would generate an extra 9% of GDP which is $20-40bn to New Zealand’s economy.

I started my work career in the late 1980s in London, with a background in law and an initial career trajectory as a barrister, before transitioning into the financial service industry. What sparked my initial interest in finance was the mismanagement of trusts in my family. This experience taught me a great lesson, that I never wanted to be dependent on others for my financial well-being.

To put it in perspective, during this time in England, there were laws still in place to limit the financial well-being and independence of women. Prior to 1990, under the Reform of Personal Taxation, the system stripped married women’s financial independence and privacy in tax matters. A couple’s income was added together and treated as if it was the income of the husband. Under the 1918 income taxation act, married women were classed as “incapacitated persons” alongside, infants, lunatics, and the insane.