Raising a family is a special challenge for working women. Joy noted that industry conferences may highlight industry mavens who have been able to carve out personal time from their businesses, but stories about creating maternity leave for young mothers are lacking.
Firms need to structure pay and benefits to keep people with families, she said, and “men should be encouraged to take maternity leave as well’ so there’s no stigma attached to taking time off.
As women advance in their careers, they face new challenges. “As men become more powerful and rise in an organization, they become better liked, while for women it’s the opposite,” Blayney said.
And women in the industry are paid less, Blayney added, by about $32,000 per year, according to CFP Board research. That figure is adjusted for experience and production.
The impediments need to be changed if the industry hopes to attract a more diverse talent pool.
At public companies, a 30 percent female workforce is the “critical mass” that research shows makes a difference, Blayney said. “There is a measurable return on having women in the firm,” she said.
By way of example, Joy recalled a case at her firm involving a married couple, where the wife was overly stressed from work. The male advisors wondered why she worked at all, because she didn’t need to.
The men “looked at the numbers. I asked about her career objectives” and reasons for wanting to stay in the workforce, Joy said, allowing the planners to better address some of the emotional issues the couple was dealing with.