In celebration of International Women’s Week 2021, we are publishing IWD-inspired blogs to turn the spotlight on the remarkable women who work at Recordsure. We discuss gender bias and inclusivity, and what is it like to be a female working in prominently male-dominated industries.
Here, our focus is on the Science function as Roberta Carissimi, Science Lead, and Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development, share their views on why women are still under-represented in FinTech businesses.
Roberta Carissimi, Science Lead
Career profile
Roberta is a data scientist with a passion for ML techniques and for using analytics to drive business decision-making. Originally from Italy, Roberta had the opportunity to travel and experience different cultures and workplace environments, including Rome, Chicago and London.
“I joined Recordsure as the Science Lead when I was 6 months pregnant and was met with a lovely and very warm welcome from everyone,” Roberta recalls. “Recordsure has been nothing but supportive and I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to lead a team of very intelligent and unique people.”
Gender bias in the working environment
Roberta has experienced gender inequality in working environments before joining Recordsure: “Unfortunately, I have experienced gender stereotypes during my career, particularly in Italy where the situation for women is even harder than in the UK. Being a woman, you constantly have to demonstrate how valuable you are – more than men.”
“While there is less inequality in the UK, the salary gap between men and women is still unacceptable,” Roberta continues. “As women, we need to be more confident in asking for more – more promotions, more money, more benefits.”
Diversity at Recordsure
At Recordsure, I never felt diverse from my male colleagues, and I have never been treated differently because I'm a woman. People respect me and my ability to do my job is not judged based on my gender.
That said, Roberta still believes that Recordsure can make improvements to further promote the inclusive culture, such as more female presence in the senior management and attract more talented women to the science and development functions of the business.
Roberta’s views are shared by Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development, as we brought up the question of diversity and gender bias with him.
Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development
Like all technical functions I've worked in, I don't yet have enough women in technical roles in my team. This is something I'm actively trying to remedy through my recruitment strategy and the interview process I use to assess candidates.
Anthony manages Science and Development function with 25 scientists, software engineers and testers. The team includes five women.
Driving inclusivity is a work in progress, Anthony affirms: “Like all businesses I’ve worked in, I believe we still have more to do.”
He remarks on men talking far more than women on calls, behaviour that has been exacerbated by remote working. Men are known to use physical cues during in-person meetings to assert authority (consciously or otherwise), in a world of conference calls, these behaviours are being substituted by talking more and over one another.
Managing Diversity
Whilst Anthony recognises there is a need to bring more female talent to Science and Development function, he feels that Recordsure’s approach to diversity is inspiring.
At Recordsure, women are promoted internally into roles within the business, both uncontested and in competition with their male colleagues. “This is a great validation to have that we’re generating opportunities and making them appealing to both men and women,” Anthony explains.
On the whole, I consider Recordsure to be an inclusive employer. I'm proud that we have women at the top of our business visibly taking decisions that will set the direction for us all, coming right from the top with Joanne Smith.
Anthony continues: “I’m also proud of the examples those women set to the junior members of our team, especially as we are a FinTech business, which, as an industry, has been traditionally dominated by men.”
“I’ve been lucky to work with some really inspirational women during my career (and I’m married to one too), and I’ve tried to create opportunities from my network to help my female colleagues,” Anthony highly praises groups like Woman In Data.
The leadership team’s support of female employees and gender inclusivity is certainly felt across the organisation. This outlook encourages positive attitude to diversity across all teams and functions.
Remarkable women of Recordsure
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