The Future is Female – A new paper commissioned by AIB in partnership with The Future Laboratory
8th January 2024
Women are forecast to hold 45% of assets under management by 2030, according to ‘The Future is Female’, a new paper commissioned by AIB. Showcasing the increasing impact of Irish women in the economy, the paper outlines how women are pioneering change in work cultures and business practices, leading to a forecasted shift in female economic influence.
AIB partnered with trend forecaster, The Future Laboratory, to develop the paper which looks at the current landscape and maps the trends that will inform the future for female finance and financial planning in Ireland.
Collated from global research and supported by interviews with business leaders including Margaret Heffernan, five times CEO and author, Gillian Harford of Ireland’s 30% Club and Martin Raymond, CEO of The Future Lab and author of the Great Wealth Transfer Report, ‘The Future is Female’ looks at the current landscape and maps out the trends that will inform the future for female finance and financial planning in Ireland.
Key points in the paper include:
•Women are forecast to hold 45% of assets under management by 2030.[1]
•Female entrepreneurship is on the rise in Ireland with female founders securing €234m in funding for tech startups in 2022, and the third-highest rate for early-stage female entrepreneurs across all European countries.[2]
•There has been a 21% point increase in female representation on ISEQ listed companiesin the last 5 years; women across other listed boards exceeding the 25% target for 2023 at 28%[3].
•The labour force participation rate increased by 1.0% point to 65.8% over the past year, boosting the labour force by 52,000, with rising female participation rates, currently standing at 61%, up from 56% pre-Covid[4].
•A new generation of Gen Z and millennial female businesspeople are now responsible for starting one-third of businesses globally.
•While women are more risk averse when it comes to investing generally, when they do invest, they are more likely than men to place ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) at the heart of their investment portfolio, with 52% of women claiming a preference to invest in businesses that have a beneficial social or environmental impact compared to 44% of men.[5]
•There is a shift towards ‘agile leadership’, away from presenteeism and supervision, enabling female career advancements.
•Globally, childcare, and familial care stand out as two of the key areas that prevent women from fulfilling their ambitions, with a move away from ‘Greedy Jobs’ that require people to prioritise their work commitments over all other aspects of their life on the horizon.
Author of the paper, Miriam Rayman of The Future Laboratory (pictured), said:
‘While there is quite rightly a huge focus recently on the gender pay gap, gender pension gap and obstacles facing women in the Irish economy, there is also so much momentum and progress being led by women in Ireland today. Taking global trends into consideration with this progress, there is a definite shift in the economic influence of Irish women emerging.’
‘The Future is Female’ was commissioned by AIB as part of its focus on the importance of financial planning to support women continuing to do what matters to them.
Pictured: Miriam Rayman of The Future Laboratory (image: Andres Poveda)
