Normalising diversity, that’s the ultimate goal!

An interview with Ludivine Labarre, Group Deputy Chief Risk Officer at Societe Generale and Co-Chair of Financi’Elles.

Financi’Elles is the first federation of networks promoting intra-company gender diversity within the financial sector; its objective is to help improve, and especially accelerate, women’s access to the top of financial sector organisations. The latest results (June 2024) of the Ethics&Board rankings for Financi’Elles – to which Societe Generale contributed – show substantial progress in terms of women’s representation on the boards of directors and governance bodies (executive and management committees) of Financi’Elles’ seventeen financial establishments. Indeed, this index revealed a significant increase in the proportion of women on boards of directors from 41% during the last survey in 2021 to 47.6% this year, thus overtaking the SBF 120 score (46.2%) for the first time. There has been an even larger increase on executive and management committees, with the proportion of women on these committees rising by 13 percentage points to 40% this year for the 17 companies in our focus group (vs. 27.5% for the SBF 120).  

Ludivine, what do you think of these results?

I’d say its a pleasant surprise to see such an improvement, but it is also the consequence of the many actions undertaken for several years now. Recording a 13-percentage-point improvement in three years and now having 40% of women on the executive and management committees of these 17 companies that are representative of the bulk of the French financial sector reflects the real breakthroughs achieved in this sector in terms of professional equality. 

This figure encourages me to think that we’ve done it, we’ve achieved normality. That may seem a little paradoxical, but it is the standardisation of gender diversity that we are seeking, we want it to be an everyday component of companies. 

I feel that this improvement is due to the combined effect of several factors that form a kind of maximisation ecosystem: work on succession plans, which are now gender diverse; work on women-specific development plans; the standardisation of paternity leave that has send a strong signal to society as a whole... All this has created a snowball effect that has suddenly accelerated gender diversity. 

How does inclusive management help companies progress?

Inclusive management comprises 4 major concepts: authentic empathy, inspirational humility, constructive curiosity and transparent communication. Personally, I’ve focussed a lot on constructive curiosity. It’s about fighting bias, but also your own bias, which takes a lot of energy. 

When you’re curious, inquisitive, you accept other ways of thinking. As an example, during job interviews, being accompanied by a member of staff or colleague who is not like you (younger, different education or training, etc.) is good practice in order to have a different perspective. It’s so much easier to hire someone who is like you, whilst accepting someone who is different and looking at different skills requires an effort. However, successfully integrating differences within a team fosters a desire to excel, contributes to a group dynamic, creates an environment that is conducive to positive performance. 

How did you come to join Financi’Elles?

Five or six years ago, I was contacted by a Group HR manager who was on the Financi’Elles executive committee, and I considered a principle that is dear to my heart: giving back. Knowing how to give back what you’ve received, for example by giving a little of your time, of your expertise. When I started out, in the General Inspection, gender equality was more commonplace than in other departments. I felt it was important to share with other women what I benefitted from back then. Furthermore, being a member of Financi’Elles allows you to broaden your field of vision and to share good practice, notably alongside other establishments within our sector showing genuine leadership in terms of innovation in this field.