From closed doors to changing the industry: 46 years of women in financial services

When Women in Banking & Finance was founded in September 1980, financial services was an industry on the brink of enormous change.

Technology, deregulation, globalisation and repeated economic upheavals would transform how the sector operated. Women would also transform who worked within it, who led it and whose voices were heard.

The story of the past 46 years is one of remarkable progress – but also of stubborn inequalities that have proved much harder to shift.

The industry women entered

Women were certainly not new to financial services in 1980. The Bank of England had officially employed its first woman, Janet Hogarth, in 1894, while women had worked for banks in large numbers during both world wars.

Being present, however, was not the same as having power. Women were only admitted to the London Stock Exchange trading floor in 1973, ending a prohibition that had survived for more than 170 years. The Sex Discrimination Act followed in 1975, making discrimination on the grounds of sex or marriage unlawful in employment, education and the provision of services.

Research into women’s employment in banking conducted by WIBF co-founder Margery Povall at the London School of Economics helped expose the scale of the imbalance. Although women made up around half of bank employees, fewer than 1% were managers, with many working in non-lending areas such as personnel. In response, Margery joined Jane Bradford, Susan Law, Lorraine Paddison and Anne Watts OBE in founding Women in Banking. Their aim was to support women already working in the industry, encourage more to build lasting careers within it and raise their professional profile.

Big Bang, bigger opportunities?

The 1980s brought sweeping change to the City. New technology arrived on trading floors, international competition increased and the 1986 Big Bang reforms transformed the London securities market.

The old world of face-to-face trading, fixed commissions and traditional partnerships began giving way to electronic systems and global financial institutions. New roles and career paths emerged – but opportunity was not distributed equally.

Women were entering financial services in greater numbers, yet many still encountered deeply embedded assumptions about leadership, working patterns and the kinds of jobs women should perform.

The subjects covered by early WIBF events tell their own story: career planning, assertiveness, interviewing, power and influence, working mothers and “getting women on boards”. Women were not short of ability. They were trying to navigate systems that had not been designed with their progression in mind.

A broader financial world

By the early 1990s, the boundaries between banking, insurance, investments, building societies, technology and professional services were becoming increasingly blurred.

In 1992, Women in Banking became Women in Banking & Finance, reflecting both a changing industry and a membership extending beyond traditional banking.

The decade also brought several notable breakthroughs. In 1993, Frances Heaton became the first woman appointed to the Bank of England’s Court of Directors. Four years later, DeAnne Julius became a founding member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, helping to make some of the country’s most important economic decisions.

Women were becoming more visible – but a woman reaching the top of a major institution remained sufficiently unusual to be described as a historic first.

New century, new leaders

In 2001, Clara Furse became the first woman to lead the London Stock Exchange. The same year, WIBF launched its mentoring programme, recognising the importance of guidance, confidence, networks and access to people who understood how organisations really worked.

This was also a period of rapid technological development. Online banking expanded, trading became increasingly electronic and financial services grew more international and interconnected.

Then came the 2008 financial crisis. The crisis reshaped institutions, regulation and public trust. It also prompted uncomfortable questions about leadership, culture, risk and whether greater diversity around decision-making tables might produce better outcomes.

What followed was a growing recognition that gender equality was not simply a matter of helping individual women adapt. Employers needed to examine recruitment, promotion, pay, workplace culture and accountability.

The Equality Act 2010 brought earlier anti-discrimination legislation together within a single legal framework. Attention increasingly turned from whether women could enter the industry to whether they could progress, lead and be rewarded equally once there.

From encouragement to accountability

In 2016, HM Treasury launched the Women in Finance Charter following Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s review of women’s progression in financial services.

The Charter asked participating firms to set targets for women in senior management, appoint an accountable executive, publish progress and link senior executive remuneration to delivery.

This marked an important change in emphasis. Improving representation could no longer sit solely with employee networks or diversity teams; leaders were expected to own the outcome.

Mandatory gender pay gap reporting followed for larger UK employers in 2017, making disparities more visible and much harder to dismiss.

In 2019, Dame Alison Rose became the first woman appointed to lead a major UK bank when she became Chief Executive of NatWest Group. Other women have since led some of the country’s largest banks, insurers, building societies, regulators, fintechs and financial infrastructure businesses.

The image of a financial-services leader is no longer automatically male. That is genuine progress.

Progress – but not the finished article

Today, women hold an average of 37% of senior roles among Women in Finance Charter signatories. In 2025, 71% of signatories had met or were on track to meet their targets.

Yet progress in senior representation has typically moved at only around one percentage point a year. Women remain less visible in the most powerful executive, revenue-generating and profit-and-loss roles. Pay gaps, unequal caring responsibilities and inconsistent access to sponsorship and influential networks continue to shape careers.

The picture also becomes more complicated when gender intersects with ethnicity, disability and socio-economic background. Increasing the overall number of women is important, but it does not automatically create equal opportunity for all women.

What 46 years have taught us

Financial services in 2026 would be almost unrecognisable to someone entering the industry in 1980. Markets move differently, customers bank differently and careers span roles and technologies that did not then exist.

Women’s expectations have changed too. Women are not asking whether they belong in financial services. They are leading institutions, shaping regulation, developing technology, founding businesses and influencing the future of the industry.

For 46 years, WIBF has grown alongside that change – creating professional networks, mentoring women, developing leaders, expanding into financial centres across the UK and recognising achievements that might once have gone unseen.

So, this birthday is a moment to celebrate the women who opened doors, challenged assumptions and created opportunities for those who followed.

It is also a reminder that progress is neither automatic nor complete. The next chapter will depend on what the industry chooses to do now and WIBF intends to remain part of writing it.

So, happy 46th birthday to WIBF, and thank you to our founders, members, volunteers, partners and supporters, past and present.