The image of the Wolf of Wall Street traders might be a stereotypical vision that leaps to mind when you think of trading, but that is no longer an accurate representation of the trading landscape. More women than ever are joining the ranks of traders, which has traditionally been a male-dominated industry. In this article, we will take a closer look at how and why this is.
It’s easier than ever to learn
You can learn about trading stocks, shares, currencies, and more online with a host of easy to use platforms and courses. This means women can access education around trading whenever they want and can fit it in around whatever the rest of their lives hold, whether it’s a current 9-5 job or the school pick-ups. This flexibility makes learning about trading a lot easier for women in particular, who are more likely to be employed part-time, or the primary carer for others in their family.
Society is moving in the right direction
Wider social movement towards gender equality has fuelled women’s rise in many traditionally male roles in the digital, political, and financial space, with more women than ever holding roles such as start-up entrepreneur, coder, analyst, and company CEO. The more equality between the genders, the more women are able to succeed in all sorts of industries worldwide.
Cryptocurrencies, in particular, are experiencing a growth in female traders
They are fully accessible online and are becoming increasingly easy to use. You can now use them to pay for everyday goods, once you’ve set up a cryptocurrency wallet. Women, in particular, have been affected by increased unemployment this year, and redundancies mean women are retraining and looking at other opportunities to make money, digital currencies and crypto trader opportunities offer a chance to do this.
The trading industry is actively doing more to appeal to women – some leading hedge fund companies are proactively seeking to recruit female traders, tending to target graduate schemes for instance. This, coupled with ‘hobby traders’ who are possibly older, and from other industries means there could soon be a new wave of female traders in all levels of the industry.
There are a number of women within the foreign currency trading industry in particular that are inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. For example, Mary Callahan Erodes is the Chief Executive Officer of JP Morgan Asset and Wealth Management. She manages assets worth over $2.8 trillion and has held her current role for over ten years. She serves on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation of New York City, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. Sally Krawcheck founded Ellevest, a financial company built by women, for women and its goal is to put more money in the hands of women by closing the gender money gap. With a CV full of CEO and CFO roles she is an extremely knowledgeable and positive figure in the financial industry.
It seems the tide is turning and a number of factors will help to increase the number of female traders, closing the gender gap and bringing a breath of fresh air to all elements of financial trading.