Women are not only underrepresented in academics, women also remain significantly underrepresented in the upper levels of financial services companies, studies show. The Research Center SAFE (“Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe”) at Goethe University acts to improve the share of women in Finance.
Lena Janys (University of Bonn) showed in her keynote at the second Women in Law & Finance Workshop (on 21. July) that this is especially true for economics departments. Her paper “Evidence for a Two-Women Quota in University Departments across Disciplines” gives an interesting insight into how far the implementation of quotas can change female standing. The event organized by SAFE together with the Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance at the House of Finance, provided a platform for female doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to discuss their work and experiences in relatively male-dominated fields of research. In an insightful panel discussion at the end of the day, Simone Menne (Podcast “Die Boss”, The American Chamber of Commerce in Germany e.V.), Sabine Schmittroth (Member of the Managing Board, Commerzbank AG), Lena Janys (University of Bonn) discussed the obstacles for women in reaching the top, moderated by Mirjam Pütz (CEO WM Gruppe).
Awards for particularly outstanding projects
The Research Center SAFE tries to further grow the female share of researchers. Besides Loriana Pelizzon, working at SAFE since 2013, recently with Katja Langenbucher and Christine Laudenbach two female professors joined in. Since August, Christine Laudenbach is Department Director for Household Finance at SAFE. In July, her project “Gender Wealth Gap: Participation in Financial Markets” won the Leibniz Competition funding program. The project addresses the gender wealth gap as well as the different activity rates of men and women in financial markets. Compared to men, women have relatively low activity. Hence, Laudenbach’s project aims to document these differences and to conclude what measures can be taken to overcome gender-based differences. The project will be funded for a period of five years. The Leibniz Programme for Women Professors is a funding program of the Leibniz Competition and designed for internationally outstanding female researchers.
To ensure a healthy work environment with equal opportunities for all employees and adequate conditions for young families, SAFE has implemented various measures to secure the standards of awareness for equal opportunities, empowerment for individuals to combine a career and family life as well as the accommodation of individual life plans. In 2021, SAFE was awarded the “TOTAL E-QUALITY” certificate for the second consecutive time for exemplary action in human resource management providing equal opportunities.
This article might also interest you.
Photo: Verne Ho/Unsplash
Source: SAFE