In a discussion with Mortgage Solutions, Beardmore spoke about how the sector had become more welcoming for women but said there were still steps which could be taken and kept up to improve inclusion.
Not a ‘tick box exercise’
Beardmore said gender diversity, along with other kinds of diversity, was being talked about more and no longer being approached as a “tick box exercise”.
“I genuinely feel it is being talked about more, with more things are actually being done and people are more aware of it,” she said.
She said people were now being hired for jobs because they were generally the best candidate and this was decreasingly being based on any physical or personal attributes.
When asked if barriers remained for women in wanting to join the mortgage sector, she said she had never seen any during her career, and working at Legal and General she felt she had been pushed forward rather than held back.
Speaking about the sector more broadly, Beardmore commended the work of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries in promoting diversity and said it helped that it was not just women driving the conversation.
Rise in flexibility
Beardmore said a notable change in the sector which was helping to make roles more inclusive was the increase in flexible working.
“It is the change in attitude to what hours you can work. Flexibility is a massive thing,” she said,
Beardmore added: “Twenty years ago, when I had my first son, the thought of not working nine to five full-time in an office every day, doing the role that I did then is very different to now. You can far more openly request flexible working hours or work from home now.
“The great thing is that culture has changed.”
Experience and allyship
Beardmore said, as a line manager, she would be happy to allow someone to work three days a week or outside of usual working hours so they could do “an amazing job” as long as they were the right person.
She said while within some businesses it was still hard to work outside the typical nine to five, “it’s good to see attitudes are changing”.
She also said attitudes would continue to change as more women worked through the ranks in organisations and understood the battle of trying to juggle their home life and their job. Beardmore said this would improve the experiences of women in more senior positions too.
Speaking of a woman on her team due to go on maternity leave, Beardmore said she would do “everything in [her] power” to make sure she returns because she values her as an employee.
She added: “I’ll do everything in my power to drive an environment in which she can return and thrive.”
Beardmore also said Kevin Roberts, managing director at Legal and General Mortgage Services, had been a male mentor, “who’s genuinely championed me and supported me and pushed me forward and given me the confidence”.
“And he’s opened a lot of doors, because he is the white middle-aged male. I know everybody can’t have a male role model, but I think that has really helped me.”
Beardmore said having an ally in Roberts meant that if she was the only woman in the room or subjected to stereotypes, he would make sure she was part of the discussion and had questions appropriately directed to her.
Within her division, Beardmore said she and other women colleagues also openly discussed anything that affected them to foster awareness and understanding among the men in the team.
She also said firms needed to be mindful of how they recruited people and encouraged people to speak up against any behaviour which made others uncomfortable.
Holding your head up high
Beardmore said the sector was still male-dominated and sometimes when she attended events and observed the room, she felt like the “exception, not the rule”.
She added: “Nobody particularly makes me feel like that, it’s probably in my own mind more than anything. But that affects your confidence.
“And it affects the way you portray yourself, how much you can do or when you walk into a room have and to network to a room full of men.”
Referring to her daughter who is studying to be an engineer and is the only girl on her course, Beardmore said the younger generation tended to be less fazed about these things because they had examples of women succeeding in typically male-dominated positions such as the women’s England football team.
“What’s happened in women’s football is a real success story over the last year or two,” she said. “It’s amazing to watch, and again, bringing in that male role model, you look at somebody like Ian Wright who is really championing women’s football and for the first time ever, they’ve been taken seriously.
“And I think they’re being taken seriously because people have stopped comparing. Yes, the games are the same, but they both bring different things to the game.”
“And the same principles can be applied to what I could bring to the mortgage club as a director compared to Kevin, neither is wrong. There are very different ways about us and we have our own personal attributes.”
For those who may have the same reservations that Beardmore sometimes has about being a minority in the sector, she advised them to “hold their heads up high” and encourage each other.
As conversations around gender identity become more mainstream, Beardmore said the same principles of inclusion and acceptance applied to anyone who did not conform to gender norms.
“You should be allowed to be you should be able to be the same person at work, that you are at home. I think it’s really important. That’s what life is to the community that we all serve and work for.”
Generally, Beardmore said that with respect to gender diversity in the mortgage market: “It can’t be a fad. And it can’t be a phase and then the next crisis happens, and we move on to something else.
“And people should feel welcome. They should feel part of the industry. It should be a reflection of the community that we all live in.”
