actuarialsunshine Fri 09-Feb-18 16:18:11

I am a qualified actuary, with two young children. I have been reading the insurers pay gap reports and found it amusing to note how many of them note the lack of female actuaries as reasons for their poor statistics.



I finished working two years ago and it is looking increasingly unlikely I will return to actuarial work although it isn't completely ruled out.



I worked for 11 years within one of the big 4 consultancy teams. I did not return after maternity leave with my first child. I then worked for a large insurer for a year before stopping.



Lots of women within my peers at my first employer were selected for the high performance track. They all left to enter industry in mid/late twenties leaving their less able male colleagues to continue. For some this was about finding a more family friendly employer before having children. For some it was purely about the lack of relatable role models. I stayed for so long due to personal circumstances which made it difficult to change.



All the partners were male, uninvolved parents, with stay at home partners who worked long hours and travelled at the drop of a hat. For me, seeing more involved parents of which ever gender would have been helpful for me to see how it could work. Senior men talking about how little they see/prioritise their children doesn't help. I also found the pub based, very 'male' feel of the department offputting which started from a fairly junior level. Just to be clear, this isn't harassement. Just football, beer, cars, how much they had spent on their wives/girlfriends being the main topic of conversations. This was badged as 'networking' and important to career progression.



My pregnancy was challenging. In hindsight the best thing would have been to get signed off for the duration. Instead I tried to contribute what I could. This was not at all appreciated and minimal allowances made. Long travel and long hours were not compatible with feeling rough. It was made clear that once pregnant I was not useful to the team.



The large insurer was far more family friendly. My boss there was super supportive and the work interesting. My impression was that women would keep their careers going there post children far more easily, although part time working would always be a barrier to progressing.



I was very disappointed to leave but my husband who also works in financial services and was far better paid than me due to seniority was offered a promotion so we moved to the South East.



At that point I stopped working to get pregnant with my second child.



Now a combination of his long hours and travel, combined with the commuting required on the South East, means logistics don't work. We would probably require a nanny, the children would not see us on the days we both worked. We are not eligible for any extra financial support with childcare due to my husbands high earnings. We would all be stressed/tired and my salary would only provide a minimal increase for the family post nanny salary despite my marketable qualification. Financially it is better for my husband to have the support to focus on maximising his bonus.



The Institute and Faculty of actuaries did some interesting research into this and found women leave the profession much younger than men and they analysed the reasons why. I note that this has already been referred to in PIC's written submission to you. My husband has seen presentations on this and I remember the overall conclusions surprising him. Of my friends with children in the profession about half were still working part time and half stopped.



The other interesting thing to note is the change in recruitment consultant practices over the last few months. Having had infrequent contact I now get contacted around every 2-3 weeks by someone on Linkedin. The industry is generally busier but I also assume this massive change is being driven by the gender pay gap reporting.



My husband and I never intended for me to stay at home but the realities of the sitiation only really became clear once he started being promoted while I was pregnant. I do feel like all those years training are going to be wasted. I hope it will be better for my daughters.



In an ideal world, we would both work 4 days a week while the children are pre school and then move to a flex arrangement around school. But that would end all progression for both of us. When I work briefly in the Netherlands, basically all parents of young children worked 4 days a week including relatively senior men and it seemed to work better.



The alternative would be for me to work 3 days a week but my/my husbands experience is that didn't work well. Either you end up on boring projects, overworked (working 50 hours a week 3 days a week!) or doing a bad job.



I would prefer for this story to remain anonymous but I am happy to provide more details or answer questions via email if this would be helpful.