Where are all the women?

Anyone who attended last month’s association annual dinner might be surprised to learn that we are in an increasingly female business. 40% of Airmic members are women. It would be realistic to anticipate an equal gender ratio emerging before long as older professionals retire to be replaced by a new generation. Yet, as membership co-ordinator Georgina Wainwright commented, women still account for an estimated 10-15% of attendance at a typical event.

One obvious explanation for this imbalance is that meetings tend to attract older, more experienced risk managers who entered the profession when it was mainly for men. As the younger, more female intake moves up the ladder we can expect the make-up of meetings to change. Or so the argument goes.

However, the experience of the new fastTrack section of Airmic suggests otherwise. Because it was set up specifically to encourage new and inexperienced risk managers, you would expect a much more equal gender balance, possibly even a majority of women. Yet even here 70% of those who expressed an interested in joining are male.

The question, then, is whether this disparity in participation levels reflects the different priorities and preferences of the female 40% or whether they are being discouraged from coming forward.To put it another way, should the association become more women-friendly?

“The stats speak for themselves. There is definitely an opportunity to engage our female membership,” says fastTrack chair Kate Wallin. She and Wainwright are attending an external leadership academy next month designed to help women in male-dominated environments. They will then consider whether it is worth offering similar courses through fastTrack. Wallin expressed confidence that the board, which includes five women, is well equipped to influence the diversity debate.

Airmic chair Chris McGloin admitted the number of women attending meetings was smaller than he would hope. “In [senior vice-chair] Helen Pope and Kate Wallin we have two future leaders who can help drive more diversity if that is what is needed,” he said.

Pope, who takes over from McGloin as chair in June, said more investigation is required before reaching any conclusions.

Airmic chief executive John Hurrell said he would welcome suggestions from women members on how the association could engage them better. “Are there more things we could be doing to encourage women to take part in our events? I honestly don’t know. If anyone has any views on the subject I would love to hear them.”

If you have ideas on how Airmic can involve more women, please email the editor at mark.baylis@airmic.co.uk