Adding and retaining women on Wall Street are goals for 2024

Here’s hoping 2024 is a big year for women on Wall Street.

Nearly one-third (30%) of the financial advisors who earned their certified financial planning credential during 2022 were women, according to the CFP Board's Center for Financial Planning. Nevertheless, at last check women still comprise a mere 23.6% of the total CFP count, a percentage that has barely moved in the past 10 years.

Meanwhile, the 2023 InvestmentNews Benchmarking Study showed 39% of support advisors (the lowest level advisory role) were women, 30% of lead advisors were women, and only 18% of partners were women. In other words, it gets worse as the career ladder advances.

Finally, the percentage of female fund managers around the globe has consistently hovered around 12% over the past two decades, according to Girls Who Invest, a nonprofit group dedicated to transforming the investment management industry by attracting and advancing women.

Put it all together and the data clearly show there remains a long way to go for female advancement in the financial industry.

Katherine Jollon Colsher, president and CEO of Girls Who Invest, said that it's her goal to rectify this stagnant situation. And getting women into the Wall Street pipeline isn't her organization’s only essential mission – keeping them there is vital as well.

“Retention is critical to the Girls Who Invest mission, because ultimately we want women to manage 30% of the world's investible capital, and I should say women and gender-nonbinary individuals,” Colsher said. “In order to do that, we are as focused on retention as we are about pipeline development.”

Each year, Girls Who Invest serves over 500 program graduates and places more 200 scholars in front-line investing internships. Colsher expects even bigger results in the coming year as the investment management industry, especially the buy side, has opened its arms to the program.

“There still aren't as many women in frontline investing roles, and that's where we come in to help,” said Colsher. “We had our very first class in 2016 of 30 individuals. This past summer, in 2023, our class was over 600 individuals. So we've grown significantly and that's to the thanks of our 120 investment management firms we partner with.”

Colsher added that she is also counting on the program’s 2,500 alumni to pave the way for women to rise in the financial industry. She said those 2,500 alumni are 69% people of color, coming from over 200 different colleges and universities with over 80 distinct majors.

“They give back by paying it forward to college students and helping encourage them to apply to Girls Who Invest and take our programming. They give back through peer mentorship circles where they advise each other on anything from compensation to whether or not to jump ship,” Colsher said.