F3 – Future Females in Finance and the Financial Planning Association of Australia have partnered to offer 20 university students practical work experience to boost the skills and employability of aspiring young women into the financial services industry.

The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has awarded $25,000 to Fthree Pty Ltd (F3) to fund 20 work experience places with the aim of fostering a greater number of females pursuing a career in financial services.

The scholarship will be awarded to four groups of five female university students to complete a six-week work experience program within an industry participant organisation.

The scholarship comes as the FPA is the custodian of $1.5 million grant from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet earlier this year to improve the gender balance in the finance industry.

With figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing that the finance and insurance industry has the highest gender pay gap, this is just one of the many challenges for women seeking to make a start in the financial services industry.

“We hope this program will help more female students get their foot in the door.” commented Camilla Love, founder of F3.

According to Ms Love, education and practical work experience can help accelerate the number of female students pursuing a career in financial services.

“Part of the problem is that many young women don’t know enough about the industry or are unsure whether they would fit in, culturally. Currently, 54% of students coming through our work experience programs studied Finance at University. 70% are now working in a finance-related role. This shows the importance of exposure to inspiring projects, developing critical networks and nudging them into the industry through the program.” commented Ms Love.

“We are really pleased to partner with F3 on this initiative. Having a good gender balance brings in fresh ideas and creates high performing teams. Through offering this scholarship with F3, we are investing in the future and the next generation of talent for the industry.” commented FPA.

As F3 offers online remote work experience, these programs can be run all year round. As such, applications will open on an ‘as needs’ basis from 2021. You can enrol at https://www.fthree.com.au/women-in-finance-and-economics.