The Payments Association, in conjunction with the European Women in Payments Network (EWPN) undertook this project to: 1) set a baseline in gender equity issues that will allow for the measurement of change over time; 2) understand the social and structural barriers that inhibit change, and 3) make recommendations based on findings to more effectively level the playing field.
This report is based on the findings of two distinct research efforts. First, 14 in-depth interviews were conducted with a variety of executives from across the industry to come to grips with the complexity of gender equity issues. Second, a lengthy questionnaire was completed by 174 people in the payments industry. The sample was predominately women (78%) but also very experienced, with majority reporting more than seven years of experience within payments.
The participants in this research were very consistent in their beliefs about the benefits of a diverse workforce. These include strongly held attitudes that diversity leads to higher satisfaction, higher employee retention, easier recruiting, a better work environment, more innovation, and last but not least, higher overall profitability. As much as there were wide distributions of opinions on other components of the study, there was little disagreement on the value of diversity…