8 Best Careers in Finance for Women
The amount of women with careers in finance is growing every year, but there still remains a sizable pay gap between women and men. The average hourly wage for men working in finance is $40, while the average rate for women is only $27 per hour.
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Thankfully, there are finance roles where things are looking better for women, so GOBankingRates sought out the jobs in finance that are paying women the best. Here’s what we found to be the top eight finance careers for women.
8. Purchasing Manager
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $70,876
Finance professionals on average are paid $54,994 a year, so earning just over $70,000 is well above average. Purchasing managers are typically responsible for overseeing contract negotiations, buying goods and services for the company, and preparing financial reports. Right now, about 97,000 women hold this position.
7. Insurance Underwriter
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $70,980
Insurance underwriters typically evaluate applicants for insurance, and recommend a plan based on applicants’ circumstances. Women working in this role typically bring home $1,365 a week, and are making well above the average finance professional. About 73,000 women hold this job.
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6. Financial Manager
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $71,344
Financial managers can have a lot of different types of responsibilities. Some potential tasks include performing data analysis for a company, coordinating accounting, producing financial reports and projecting profits. It’s great work if you can get it, too. U.S. News ranked this position as the #2 best job in business.
5. Compliance Manager
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $73,996
One of the best jobs a woman in finance can land is being a compliance manager. Those in this role oversee a company’s policies and procedures and ensure they comply with legal and ethical standards. There are about 137,000 women working in these positions currently.
4. Personal Finance Advisor
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $74,048
There are currently about 154,000 women working as personal finance advisors. A personal finance advisor needs to not only be well-versed in economics, but have an affinity for working with people. Personal finance advisors work with people to determine how to meet their monetary goals, while also providing investment tips.
3. Fundraiser
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $80,080
Women working to generate funds for a company can expect to see a salary of just over $80,000 on average. Fundraisers plan and oversee events tied to generating money or donations for the company. They also typically reach out to potential donors to persuade them to give money, and prepare proposals for grants.
2. Financial and Investment Analyst
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $83,564
Financial and investment analysts make almost $30,000 more than the average financial professional. Financial analysts will typically analyze data to make predictions and suggestions to a person or business that will help them make more money. They’ll also usually provide cost analysis reports as well. Investment analysts would do the same, but focus primarily on industries and securities that will give the most back to the investor.
1. Public Relations and Fundraising Manager
2021 Median Annual Earnings for Women: $86,268
The best job to have as a woman in finance is as a public relations and fundraising manager. Those working in these positions will typically handle all marketing strategies, including those with consumers and investors.
Job responsibilities can also include reaching out to media outlets and creating statements following big announcements for a company. Most of the work is around making the company look good and making sure they have enough donors to meet their financial goals, which is a lofty job, but explains why it’s so well compensated.
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Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates used the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2021 Current Population Survey dataset, “Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex” to determine the best careers in finance for women. To qualify a job had to be both under the umbrella occupations of either “Management, business, and financial operations occupations” or “Business and financial operations occupations” AND have a higher 2021 median weekly earnings. All data was collected and is up to date as of March 8, 2022.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Best Careers in Finance for Women
