If you take 100 advisers today, at random, just 17 of them are likely to be women, research suggests. Additionally, the study by Touchstone Analytics concludes female advisers will not make up half of the workforce until 2078.

One issue concerned the difficulties women can face as a minority in the industry.

As Gillian Cardy (pictured), the managing director at advisory trade body IFA Centre, explained, she has often walked into a room and been the only female in attendance.

Similarly, Cardy argued that the relationships advisers build with solicitors and accountants can be “established on the golf course, creating an old boys’ network”.

“I felt I had to be better than a male counterpart to be successful,” she said.

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Lacking the confidence to ask for parity of wages with men can also be a problem for women, according to Cathy Curtis, a financial adviser at US-based Curtis Financial Planning.

“Women often accept a lower salary for the privilege of getting in through the door,” she said. “One thing I’ve learnt though, is that women should be sure to ask for what they’re worth.”

Despite the difficulties women advisers face, many argue that, if they approach their career in the right way, they can benefit from a competitive advantage.

Eleanor Blayney, president of US-based advisory trade body Directions for Women, explained that ‘financial planning’, which requires a more holistic analysis of clients’ finances and deals with customers’ emotional attitudes to money, can be something that is more appealing to female advisers than male.

However, she said that, though there was anecdotal evidence that this may be the case, research was divided.

“One set of research indicates that clients are looking for trust, confidence and communications skills,” Blayney said, indicating that these were not gender-specific qualities.

But she pointed out that some sectors of the population appear to prefer dealing with a female adviser. These included, she said, female business owners as well as divorced and widowed women.

Curtis agreed that women can benefit from moving to offer a financial planning service, which more advisers are expected to do following the Retail Distribution Review.

“The issue of finances is emotionally charged as money and emotion are closely intertwined. Dealing with emotion is something female advisers may have an advantage at,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jillian Thomas, principal at Future Life Wealth Management (UK), said she has seen an upturn in male clients seeking her help.

“Since the crash in 2008, more professional men are looking for female advisers,” she said. “On four occasions men have sought me out because I’m a woman.

She argued that another big advantage to working with women is that they can more reliably act as an ‘unpaid workforce’. “Female clients refer their adviser to friends three times as frequently as men,” she said.

This feature has been abridged for Mortgage Solutions, with thanks to journalist Nicola Brittain (pictured)

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