When Diane Daniels was a financial planner at an insurance company 15 years ago, she was told that the manager didn't think women should be selling.

"The situation is the same today. The concept of what women should do doesn't dissipitate as time passes," said Daniels, who has held her Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation for 25 years.

Daniels maintains an insurance office in Manhattan and her financial planning practice in Queens.

"I think the bias in the industry is about who controls the money," Daniels told Financial Advisor. "If men control the money, then they will also control the financial planning aspect in a family."

Daniels attended the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards' conference in New York today at the Westin Times Square Hotel where the latest research about the gender gap in financial services was released.

"The number of women CFPs has stalled at 23 percent in the past decade," said Nancy Kistner,  chair of the Women's Initiative (WIN) Advisory Panel. "Women are still challenged. Our workplace environments are not flexible enough and the financial planning industry is not immune to these challenges."

The Making More Room For Women in the Financial Planning Profession study found reasons women are underrepresented in the industry include firms are not committed to women at the highest levels, there aren't enough women role models and women don't advocate for themselves enough.

"What's infuriating is finding out that women don't advocate for themselves," said Ivy Menchel, a CFP in New York for 11 years, who attended the conference."We lack the confidence to advocate for ourselves because finances are not discussed with girls in childhood."

About 37 percent of financial services firms said they are reluctant to hire women out of fear they will start a family and 41 percent of executives at financial services firms said that men are more likely to have the characteristics needed to be a successful financial planner compared to 7 percent for women.

"Increasing diversity will benefit the public as those old pale males retire," said Ray Ferrara, chairman of the CFP Board of Directors. "But this long-term goal requires commitment on the part of not only the CFP Board but also financial firms that employ planners and other financial planning trade groups."

As for a solution, TD Ameritrade Institutional President Tom Nally said a change in perception is needed.

"Our industry suffers from a perception problem particularly among women," Nally said from the podium at the event."The perception that the stock market is rigged deters women from choosing to be involved in financial services."

About 48 percent said the best strategy to increase the number of CFP licensed women lies in marketing the profession as well suited for women, 47 percent cited developing more mentoring programs and 43 percent said introducing financial planning as a profession to girls earlier in school.

"The study indicates the importance of building women's awareness of the financial planning profession," said Peter Fondulas, president of Fondulas Strategic Research, which helped collect and compile date for the study. "The more familiar a woman is with the profession, the more likely she is to pursue a CFP designation."

About 53 percent of men compared with 22 percent of women surveyed are very familiar with what a financial planner does for a living.

An insurance broker, Sally Denton said she was asked by her manager to consider obtaining a CFP designation. "He felt there would be more opportunities opening up for women CFPs, so I put it on my 2015 goals," said Denton during a break at the conference.

About 30 percent of women say it's too hard to find time to complete the CFP coursework and 24 percent say the process for obtaining a CFP designation is too expensive.

"Everything takes time," Denton said. "Life is about commitment, tenacity and persistence. I am going to pay for the expense because it's an investment in myself."

Another finding is that interest in becoming a financial planner is lower among women who think being a CFP requires strong sales skills.

"Some of the socialization has been horrible for women around math," said Debra Morrison, a CFP with Empowered Retirement in Lincoln Park, N.J. "It's not news that the average school teacher calls more on boys in class because they jump up down and wave their hands so confidence building is key. It will lead the woman to understand that she fits into the art of this profession beautifully."

Largely 63 percent of men and 42 percent of women in the CFP community believe that men are more likely to be hired, and 25 percent of women compared with 65 percent of men say they receive strong support from their firm once hired.

"I try not to sit there and think about the difficulties or the support I'm not getting," said Menchel, who works with Lincoln Financial Group in New York. "I focus on helping my clients.I also seek out mentors among men and women. Some of the men are female friendly and not always leaders in the good old boys club."