At the current rate of progress, it will take 140 years to achieve parity between men and women in leadership positions in financial industries, although pension funds have continued to outperform other sectors, the Gender Balance Index 2023 has revealed.

The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) index, now in its tenth edition, tracks the presence of women and men in senior positions in central banks, commercial banks, pension funds and sovereign funds.

The latest index revealed slow progress in gender parity, as 14 per cent of the 336 institutions sampled were led by women, up from 13.7 per cent in 2022 and 13.3 per cent in 2021.

The index suggested that female representation is better lower down the ladder, revealing that women make up 24 per cent of deputy governors and C-suite staff, and 30 per cent of the 6,221 senior staff across all institutions in the GBI.

However, further analysis on the types of roles held by senior women offered less encouragement, as 62 per cent of female executives in commercial banks, pension funds and sovereign funds hold revenue-generating roles, compared to 83 per cent of their male peers.

Given this, the OMFIF argued that men are much more likely to run a major business division from which future leaders in the financial industry will probably emerge.

The slow progress was also evidenced in the sector specific 2023 GBI scores, which takes key data points into a single metric of gender balance for individual institutions, with most groups advancing their GBI scores in the past year by 1-2 points.

Although pension funds continued to outperform other sectors in the index, achieving an aggregate GBI score of 50 out of 100, the OMFIF emphasised that this means that funds are just halfway to achieving gender parity.

Now Pensions financial adviser and head of campaigns, Samantha Gould, highlighted the update as "another chance to raise awareness and draw attention to an issue that continues to define working women’s lives", as well as demonstration that awareness must be followed by action.

She continued: “Redressing the gender imbalance is a complex issue, but progress continues to be slow when you think that anyone born in the year of the UK’s Equal Pay Act [1970] would almost be old enough to start accessing their pension savings.

“Seeing only nine female CEOs in the FTSE 100 is symbolic of the many issues which need consigning to the past, including the gender pension gap and the barriers that prevent many women from accessing funding to start their own businesses.

"Locking experienced women out of senior roles is not in the best interest of society or individual businesses. The extortionate cost of childcare in the UK is prohibitive to most working women forcing them to leave the workforce or drastically reduce their hours which limits their career opportunities."

Gould also warned that the gender gap doesn’t just impact women’s working lives where pay is concerned, warning that the disadvantages carry on into retirement too.

"The average woman currently retires with around £145,000 less in pension savings than the average man," she explained. "There simply is not enough time in women’s professional lives to close the gap, unless they start saving into a workplace pension from the age of four.

“We believe in the equal rights and opportunities for all, and that true gender equality is necessary for a prosperous and sustainable world, which is why we have made it a moral and economic imperative within our business.”

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