Millennial women in the financial services are more likely to feel they are the victim of bias than their counterparts in other industries, according to a study released by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Tuesday.

In the financial services, female millennials were more likely to feel there was bias in favor of men in attracting (29 percent versus 25 percent), developing (36 percent versus 30 percent) and retaining employees (34 percent versus 31 percent), according to the study.

While women millennials in the financial services put a premium on career progression, with 60 percent noting it as the most important attribute in an employer, 50 percent reported feeling like employers were biased in favor of men when it came to promoting employees, versus 43 percent of their counterparts across all industries.

Furthermore, just 35 percent of millennial women in financial services felt like they could rise to senior levels within their organization, compared to 49 percent across all sectors.

Despite recent campaigns focused on boosting diversity in the financial industry, millennial women are pessimistic about their company’s efforts: 61 percent of millennial women in financial services don’t believe their employers do enough to encourage diversity

The study, “Female Millennials in Financial Services: Strategies for a new era of talent,” surveyed more than 8,000 females born between 1980 and 1995, of which nearly 600 were working in the financial services sector.

Surveyors also found that:

  • Nearly three-quarters of female millennials in financial services (72 percent) earn more or the same as their partner if they are in a dual-income relationship, which is higher than the overall survey (66 percent).
  • Most millennial women, 57 percent, put pay just behind career progression as the most important attribute in an employer.
  • More than 87 percent of female millennials in the financial services industry say that an employer’s policy on diversity and inclusiveness is important to them.
  • Fifty-three percent of millennial women in financial services believe that taking advantage of work-life balance programs will have negative consequences for their careers.
  • Financial services executives believe diversity pays dividends to their companies, according to the survey. 
  • Thirty-four percent of millennial women say they left their last financial services job because there were not enough opportunities for career progression.