According to the International Monetary Fund, women hold fewer than 10% of leadership roles as founders and executive board members. Closing the gap is a serious challenge — but new voices are leading the charge to boost inclusion and connect women across the industry.
Two influential women in the fintech world, Convera’s Julie Armstrong, VP, Global Head of Verticalized Industry and Partnerships, and Nicole Casperson, founder of the Fintech Is Femme newsletter, joined Converge to discuss the gender gap and firsthand insights into how representation can improve.
Rewriting the narrative for women in fintech
Rewriting the narrative for women in fintech
Casperson, who reported on the fintech industry for trade publications before starting her own newsletter, said improving the situation may start with reshaping the narrative.
She notes that she was often the only woman in the room as a reporter: “I saw why the narratives around women, money and business were so bad, just not representative of what actually is happening in the space. We’re fed a lot of negative headlines.”
Creating equal opportunities for entrepreneurial women within the tech ecosystem is crucial to fostering a supportive community that connects female founders, leaders and investors.
While Casperson says the statistics and stories around funding and leadership are a reality, the consistent negative tone of data-driven stories around these facts can heighten the challenge of fostering inclusion.
“When they’re the only thing we’re fed all the time, it just imprints into our heads that we don’t belong (in fintech). I have some DMs from women that say, ‘I want to be in fintech, but I don’t know how.’ And it’s because we’ve never put stories of other women out there to give them a blueprint to follow.”
That’s why she dedicates Fintech Is Femme to amplifying the stories of women who are pioneering innovations in fintech.
The state of women in fintech today
There are more women in fintech now than when Armstrong started her career two decades ago.
Why? One reason is that networking was more difficult in the days before LinkedIn, and there were rarely other women to connect with at conferences and networking events she attended. Armstrong also found little help from some of her male colleagues.
“I didn’t have that immediate role model, immediate comradery on the desk … I looked to my left and asked the guy I was working with if he could help demonstrate options. He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think so, honey. You’re on your own.’ I thought, challenge accepted!”
Armstrong says that moment motivated her to read more, and now she considers herself an expert on financial technology, equities, options, futures, FX and more.
Given her experiences, Armstrong says women need to be confident that they can learn new skills on the job and go for positions that force them to get outside their comfort zone. Promoting a diverse industry within the fintech sector is crucial for equity and inclusivity, ensuring that women and underrepresented groups have the opportunity to contribute and thrive.
“I think women tend to say, ‘I don’t check all the boxes, ’ so they don’t show up for the interview. They don’t show up to raise their hand for the opportunity. I have to say that if you tick seven of the ten boxes, go for it! Because the other three you’re going to figure out.”
Forging connections through Fintech Is Femme
Times have changed, and Casperson asserts that today’s tight-knit community of women in fintech can be a competitive advantage for those looking to move into the business.
Join these entrepreneurial networks to become part of a supportive ecosystem that provides valuable resources and facilitates connections.
But she says women still need to show up — in person — and engage with each other.
“I make it very intentional that Fintech Is Femme does not live only online. It’s why I host events, it’s why I host summits, and it’s why I attend events like Money20/20. I want to remind my Gen Z friends of that importance. I have a lot of younger readers or people I engage with who I’ve got to tell to look up from that phone, because that’s not the only way you’re going to progress forward, especially in an industry like this.”
Armstrong agrees, noting that people may now rely too much on digital touchpoints. “I’m old-school. I like to meet you in person; I like to have that one-on-one.”
To get more women in the room, Armstrong says simple acts like a personal introduction go a long way.
”You have got to be women supporting women. I realized I had a position where I could introduce women to other women who would never have met each other in those cycles. And then you start role-modeling that, you start spreading the word on that, and then you get other people to do that.”
Female founders take center stage
The number of female fintech founders worldwide is also quite low, standing at roughly 7%. While that number is higher in the U.S., at 13.2%, it’s the lowest since at least 2018, according to Carta data.
Casperson has a forthcoming book titled Fintech Feminists, sharing success stories from founders and entrepreneurs looking to make their mark on the industry. “They’re really focused on personal finance, on being able to actually deliver education alongside the application — which I think has been missing.”
Casperson, who just turned 30, says interest in financial literacy has spiked among Millennials and Gen Z now that it’s more accessible on social media and other platforms in a more relatable way than the Wall Street Journal or traditional business “gurus.”
The power of storytelling is one tool both women agree can be useful in preparing the next generation of female leaders in fintech and other industries.
Earlier in Armstrong’s career, she had only received partial pay for an annual bonus, discounting her time spent on maternity leave. “I thought, ‘You’re kidding me, I don’t get my full bonus because I just went and gave life?!’
“I can tell a great story to customers about our value prop or the economics of the world, but you also have to share your stories of ‘that wasn’t cool’ … you have to be able to show up and say, ‘it’s not OK.’ But not everybody is comfortable saying ‘it’s not OK,’ so we want to give them that strength.”
Building a network of mentorship for women in finance
Speaking of community, Armstrong recalled attending a Women of Wall Street conference where the number of female attendees blew her away. She recalled someone asking, “How can you have it all?” to a panelist and the sage advice in the response: “Well, you can have it all. You just can’t have it all at the same time. And it takes prioritization.”
Armstrong also noted that in 2020, she joined a nascent group of female leaders called the Constellations, with full support from her male CEO. And she said this network has made all the difference.
“It really gave wind to my wings when I was a little down, [and] I’ve made some of the best friends of my life. We collaborated on a book (Women in Leadership: 500 Lessons to Our Younger Selves). We didn’t have that easy mentor men have at some stages. Sorry, but men didn’t know how to talk to us, didn’t know how to manage us, didn’t know how to mentor us … It was the connective tissue I needed.”
To close the gap and achieve gender equality, Ernst and Young and other globally recognized organizations have identified ways to engage women in the field and help them thrive in the fintech ecosystem. These ideas include more support and funding for female founders, creating more inclusive working environments and targeting recruitment to boost the talent pipeline of women workers interested in the field.
Promoting an environment of open innovation is also important, especially when it comes to highlighting peers’ products and ideas.
To Casperson, policy changes are the ultimate way to drive real change — and to get there, we’ll need to restructure the systems that have shaped finance in decades past.
“How about we tell businesses to pay their women fairly? How about we tell businesses that they need to have paid leave policies that are so much better than what we have, especially here in the United States? Let’s start questioning how our systems are structured instead of spending all this time telling women to change. I think that’s how we move forward.”
Want more insights on the topics shaping the future of cross-border payments? Tune in to Converge, with new episodes every Wednesday.
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*The information shared on this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.
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