Women missing out on fun environment of stock broking

The New Zealand Stock Exchange has 421 members, 72 of them women.

But of those women, only 20 are full members, meaning they have voting rights and have done at least three years of full-time trading with a recognised company.

Male full members number 239.

All the rest, men and women, are associates - junior vote-free zones still under supervision as they study for NZSE-mandated exams.

The paucity of women members is really disappointing, says Kathy Jones, a broker of 15 years. "And I'm not convinced it's any better than it was 10 years ago."

Kirsty Shiach, of ASB Securities, has been broking for 20 years, "and I'm not aware of many other female brokers who have been in the industry that long".

But broking, says Jones, is "extremely well paid, interesting, with intelligent company and a fun environment. Why wouldn't women apply?"

Ask other women brokers and fund managers and they are nonplussed. Some tentatively suggest that the initial long hours, the competitive nature of the job, lingering "old boys' club" attitudes and the levels of risk might be turn-offs for women.

None of the women who spoke to the Herald identified any overt discrimination, though all acknowledged the numbers mismatch.

"I will always look at the best person for the job," says Adrienne Stormont, HR adviser for funds manager ING, "but I'm aware there is an imbalance."

Jane Diplock, the head of the Securities Commission, reckons more women should work in trading "because there should be women represented at all levels in all walks of life".

She says that in her native Australia, the rule that forced married women out of bank jobs, halting their movement up the ranks, was not scrapped until the late 1960s or 1970s.

And Tim Preston, the managing director of ASB Securities, says some of today's firms are a legacy of the '60s, '70s and '80s when the industry was very much male-dominated and old-school thinking dictated employment decisions.

(His company reflects its 1999 birth and its internet trading focus - it is 65 per cent female.)

But old boys' club attitudes are nearly history, surely. When women are now pouring into other areas of business, why are so few broking?

Jones, who awaits a judge's decision after taking the NZSE to court for refusing her to take leave of her membership following a redundancy and the arrival soon after of her third child, suggests that the problem is more subtle.

It's not so much overt discrimination, she says, as blind force of habit. Many brokers tend to hire people of similar background through informal channels rather than advertising, meaning men continue to predominate, she says.

And indeed, it is estimated that two-thirds of jobs are never advertised.

"People like to work with people like them," says Jones.

It is a major anomaly given brokers' embrace of the free market.

"The whole industry loves the thought of the marketplace. And that tells you the best person should get the job - but very seldom are these jobs advertised. How can they be sure they have the best person?

"I don't buy into the theory that women aren't interested," she says. "It's not so much that they're kept out, they're not invited in."

Preston agrees that overt discrimination is not the problem, but confirms that brokers "don't generally advertise for new advisers ... When one firm takes a team of advisers from another firm, they end up with whatever mix is there".

But a Wellington woman broker - whose company's policy on talking to the media means she cannot be named - believes change could be on the horizon.

Look at the NZSE membership figures, she says 52 women associates are studying for their broking exams.

"So you could find in the next few years that there's more of a bulge coming through."