Financi’Elles
The network federation promoting gender diversity in the
banking, financial, and insurance sectors
Our FEDERATION
Financi’Elles is the leading federation of networks promoting gender diversity in the financial sector and committed to helping improve and streamline women’s access to the top level of organisations in the finance sector.
Members of Financi’Elles all share the conviction that gender diversity is a key factor for the future success of the financial industry. The aim of Financi’Elles is to combine the resources and energies of existing networks promoting gender diversity and to support and reinforce one another’s initiatives within the sector, through collaboration and a shared vision, for the purpose of strengthening gender diversity at all levels of companies in the sector.
Financi’Elles focuses on the financial sector through its existing networks and by creating and partnering with initiatives within companies in order to spearhead active policies favouring gender diversity through the sharing of ethics and common values.
Representing competing companies, Financi’Elles members work together on a voluntary – yet professional – basis, sharing a set of basic values:
- mutual assistance and reciprocity,
- confidentiality and loyalty to their respective companies.
In short, Financi’Elles brings together networks that view gender diversity as a performance factor for organisations. From this standpoint, members of Financi’Elles are committed to improving and streamlining women’s access to the top level of organisations in the finance sector.
Our GOVERNANCE
Financi’Elles encompasses :
- The Network Committee to continue bringing together networks that promote diversity and improve the image of our sector.
- The Observatory Committee and Circle of HR Professionals in Finance to work with corporate HR teams responsible for gender diversity programs in the banking, insurance, and finance sectors.
- The Communication Committe to act as a spokesperson in dealing with the media and the public, and accompagny the organization of its events.
Our NETWORKS
This alliance of 13 networks relies on:
- The commitment of the top managements of 13 partner business to the content of the White Paper signed in March 2011.
- Government support through the patronage of Christine Lagarde and dialog with the French Ministry of Women’s Affairs, initiated in July 2012.
- The support of key personalities, including honorary members, Anne Guillaumat de Blignières, Arielle Malard de Rothschild, Sofia Merlo and Diony Lebot, as well as ambassadors from partner companies.
- The backing of various sponsors and partners.
Our INITIATIVES
Financi’Elles offers a simple and pragmatic approach, that suits the needs and particularities of each of its partners:
For networks : mutall support and enrichment through the pooling of actions benefiting their members and the sharing of best practices to accelerate change within their companies.
For female executives : offer a space for discussion, personal enrichment, and open cross-networking, highlight women’s achievements and concrete actions by companies, and actively contribute to making the sector more attractive to women.
For companies – HR departments : share a common repository for tracking progress in gender diversity. Make tools available that are supported and recognised by industry experts.
For companies – General Management and Communications Department : encourage commitments to promoting gender diversity in partner companies for the benefit of the sector as a whole.
Our HISTORY
Despite being very well-represented in the financial sector (accounting for over 50% of the total workforce),women frequently face a common issue. That is, although many women – perhaps even more than men – are beginning professional careers and reaching the lower levels of the ladder, they are struggling to reach the highest corporate levels, accounting for only 16% of Executive Committee members today.
In June 2010, further to the initiative of executive women’s networks at BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, women in the banking, finance, and insurance sector decided to create Financi’Elles, a sector-based federation of internal networks promoting gender diversity. France’s finance, banking, and insurance sector currently has nearly 120,000 female executives. In recent years, networks have blossomed within the sector, boosting awareness of the specific problem women face in their professional careers and helping to strengthen gender diversity at all levels of companies.
Development has been very quick since 2015, with already more than 10,000 women organised in networks, from an initial count of just 1,500 women. To support these internal dynamics and their common aim, these networks decided to join together within a sector-based alliance. Financi’Elles represents an alliance of formal and informal networks from 112 sector companies.
Financi’Elles is now the leading alliance of networks promoting gender diversity within the sector.
