There are less than 30% of women in FinTech, and less than 5% of them are CEOs. Women's decision-making presence in the industry is firmly underrepresented, which is why fintech lacks developmental speed and strength. The blame falls on the gender balance in the industry. Today, it becomes more important than ever to decrease the gap between men and women in the fintech industry to improve the product development process that addresses the needs of all users and generates diversity across the entire playing field for success.

Contemporaneous Statistics and System Flaws

The current gender gap in the fintech industry is striking. Less than 30% of the employee base consists of women, with less than 20% of them occupying executive positions. By 2025, despite the pandemic’s impact, the fintech industry is estimated to grow by 20% and hit $305 billion in market value, meaning that the gender gap will soon widen even further. More so, gender equality does not stop at the employment level. Financial inclusion concerns everyone due to ensuring safer access to finance. As a result, lack of female representation in the industry influences the quality and diversity of the industry products and harms it from the bottom-up.

Being a demanding industry, fintech requires much commitment and personal sacrifice, making it less appealing. Despite high promised returns, building personal life and retaining private space becomes challenging after entering the field. Moreover, the industry also claims to be innately conservative and demands commitment to innovation and decisive action. The flawed system that is meant to enable women to readily enter the industry and prosper, without fear of lack of finances from big banks and venture capitalists, actually end up discouraging many women. However, the reasons for inequality extend far beyond gender discrimination, biases, statistics, organization deficiencies, and the absence of necessary qualifications. 

The problem also concerns psychological barriers that many women fail to acknowledge and address effectively. Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, in their book Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide, explained that women are generally less vocal about what they know and are afraid that they need to get more appropriate skills and learning to get into any industry. More so, women like to make sure that they know everything before they take a chance; hence, they are more hesitant to get into the field than men.

The Gender Gap Impact

The lack of gender diversity in the industry decreases the organizational and financial performance of businesses. Multiple studies indicate that teams with greater variety perform better in creativity, information sharing, and accomplishing tasks. Besides, a McKinsey study in 2014 found a 15% increase in financial returns for companies with higher gender diversity. As for women in leadership roles, a Credit Suisse study has concluded that economic performance, measured through the return on equity, was higher by 27% in companies where more women were leaders, while the ratio for dividend payout was almost half as high. Finally, another study made in 2015 analyzed the budgetary performance of companies owned by women against the Standard and Poor's (S&P) performance over 12 years and found that the financial performance of the companies with female CEOs was 226% better than the one of S&P. 

In addition to the effects described above, gender diversity improves talent attraction, inspires diverse ideas exchange, and leads to productivity improvement. It also safeguards the fintech industry's democratization by including the voices of the wider audience, improving product development, the speed of growth, and competition in the sector. Welcoming women into the industry, as a result, has the potential to improve the industry performance, increase the efficiency of the output as well as improve societal representation for the sake of better products and services. 

How to Bridge the Divide

The ways to achieve better gender diversity in fintech are vital, yet straightforward, if one wants to become a leader in the industry and set positive trends that will transform its operations. First and foremost, improving networking access and welcoming women to the venture capital firms is crucial to spread necessary funding support to early-stage fintech entrepreneurs. Secondly, expanding visibility for female workers in the industry has the potential to spread awareness of their success stories and inspire rising female entrepreneurs to take a chance and get into the field. Luckily, there are numerous success stories that women in fintech can share. The recent glow ups like that of Dhivya Suryadevara can inspire thousands of women in the U.S. and around the globe. 

Diversity Improves Industry Performance

Access to financial products and services are improving day-by-day, as well as the tools themselves. In addition, speed, acceleration, and quality improvement seldom are detrimental. Such a simple fix as improving diversity can provide these with little cost to the industry and its workers, safeguarding its future speedy development and growth. As a result, implementing higher visibility, improving on the awareness, and welcoming more women in the industry can be performed for no cost across sectors in any country around the globe. By doing so, businesses can meet such vital development and growth objectives to achieve better operational and financial performance, development of superior products, and the coverage of wider socioeconomic groups. 

Fintech is craving for young female entrepreneurs and professionals. There are a number of success stories, not even close to the sheer number of skilled and knowledgeable businesswomen that have the courage, willingness, and the ability to become successful. The fintech industry needs them. It just needs more businesses and investors to create a welcoming, accessible environment for women to be able to step up in greater numbers.