“Where are all the woman CFPs going?” asked an audience member at the 2017 Invest In Women conference on Wednesday.

Speaking at a panel discussion called “Does Your Firm Need a Women’s Initiative?” covering a wide range of gender-oriented topics, Michelle Lynch, vice president and director of the Raymond James Network for Women Advisors, pointed out that the demographics of college CFP programs have been evenly split 50-50 between men and women for many years, yet the proportion of women advisors in the industry still frustratingly hovers near 20 percent.

“If 50 percent of the graduating advisors are women, why aren’t we seeing an increase in women becoming financial advisors?” Lynch asked. “Part of the reason is that they were being trained as advisors from a very technical, ‘male’ perspective.”

As part of an effort to turn the tide, Lynch explained that Raymond James is working with college CFP programs to blend more emotional and behavioral aspects of financial planning into their curriculum, but the low levels of women in the industry remain a sticking point.

Until recently, part of the industry’s gender problem stemmed from its lack of networking and educational opportunities for women, said Lorraine Salvo, managing director at Massey Quick Wealth Management, and that extends to difficulty creating client outreach that appeals to women.

“Women tend to enjoy learning with other women and from other women,” said Salvo. “There’s a comfort level issue. When it comes to discussions around topics like money management, it’s personal, women feel uncomfortable, and they’re just not going to bring it up.”

Two years ago, Salvo began organizing internal networking round tables of women at Massey Quick. Recognizing that women were eager for the opportunity to tell their stories to one another and learn together, she moved to create a women’s initiative that would also extend to clients, prospects and women in the communities that Massey Quick serves.

Similarly, Plancorp LLC more recently created a client-focused women’s initiative to help women become more fluent in the language of finance and engage more in discussions about money. By hosting educational events and round tables of women without men present, participants were more comfortable speaking their minds, said Sara Gelsheimer, a wealth manager and founder of the women’s initiative at Plancorp.

“There’s something really special about women getting together, especially in educational events,” Gelsheimer said. “We wanted women to feel comfortable asking questions that they may not feel comfortable asking in front of their husbands or a male advisor in a client meeting.”

Gelsheimer and Salvo explained that their initiatives also involve “inspirational” events that may be tied to community service or simply deliver an uplifting message to participants.

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