April 2018: Better Late Than Never

One just has to scour the financial services industry for women-centric awards programs and you’ll find more than you can shake a stick at. But the important thing is that we’re finally here and we’re doing something just a little bit different: Whereas other programs tend to concentrate on the capital markets generally, the Women in Technology and Data Awards focus on the outstanding contributions women have made in the technology and data realms over the years. It’s taken us 25 years to get here—yes, Waters celebrates its 25th year in existence in September this year—but judging by the interest in these awards and the outstanding list of this year’s winners, it’s clear that they were long overdue. As they say, better late than never. 

While I’d like to think that our industry is progressive, open-minded and fair, the truth is that from a gender-equality perspective, it isn’t. Not yet anyway. Yes, it has come a long way in a relatively short space of time, and there are large numbers of women in executive positions across our industry—this month’s cover story on Bea Martin, COO of UBS Investment Bank in London, is a case in point—but there is still quite some way to go, as illustrated by the women in technology feature, which will run on Thursday. 

In years to come, people looking back at how our industry used to operate might well ask the question: How did it continue as it did for so long? The thought that in this day and age salaries, bonuses, promotions and recognition might be determined by one’s gender is unthinkable, and yet it continues.  

To be clear, the launch of the “women’s awards” had nothing to do with the Harvey Weinstein revelations at the back end of last year, and the Time’s Up movement in early January this year, closely followed by the Carrie Gracie incident where the BBC’s China editor resigned due to an equal pay dispute with the Corporation. On the contrary, we had been mulling the launch for quite some time and the three issues cited above were more coincidences than catalysts.  

I’m happy to say that one way or another we took that leap and we’re now the proud owners of an awards program that aims to right some of the injustices of the past by recognizing our industry’s outstanding women and the contributions they have made and are continuing to make to their respective organizations. After this year’s unqualified success, I have little doubt that they will become an annual highlight, and I’m equally certain that this year’s winners will be as proud as I am that their involvement in the inaugural awards will be reflected on their CVs.