To mark International Women’s Day 2026, Euronext hosted events across its locations under the theme “Balancing the scales.” The discussions brought together colleagues, clients and external speakers to reflect on how leadership, capital and opportunity can be more equitably distributed across organisations and markets.

In Paris, one of the guest speakers was Fabienne Konik, President and Co-Founder of Women in Finance France and Partner at EY, where she leads the Wealth and Asset Management sector in France within Consulting. Drawing on more than 20 years of international experience in financial services, she shares her perspective on where imbalance persists and what it will take to correct it in the following article.

Where power concentrates, imbalance persists

For Fabienne Konik, the scales remain most visibly tilted where power concentrates: executive committees, partnerships and boards. “The last mile is the hardest,” she notes. “Many organisations say they cannot find the right female candidates. I think that is simply not true.”

Through Women in Finance France, which brings together senior women from more than 25 financial institutions, she sees first-hand that the talent pool exists. The issue, she argues, is less about supply and more about structural intent.

Too often, diversity is tracked as a KPI without being embedded as a strategic priority. “What gets measured gets done,” she says. “But it also needs to be owned at the top. Leadership must believe diversity creates value.”

Based on feedback from members of the network, she highlights four structural levers that can accelerate progress:

1. Challenging conventional promotion patterns. Requiring diverse shortlists for senior roles is not about symbolism, but about deliberately widening decision frameworks and questioning inherited norms.
2. Visible leadership commitment. Progress depends on executive-level accountability and clear ownership.
3. Active sponsorship. High-potential women need sponsors and mentors who advocate for them when critical decisions are made.
4. Long-term trajectory building. Reaching top leadership rarely happens in a year. Institutions must intentionally build eight-to-ten-year development paths that prepare women for the most senior roles.

For Fabienne Konik, balancing the scales at senior level requires a mindset shift from reactive correction to proactive design.

Financial literacy as economic power

Beyond representation in leadership, she also points to a deeper structural dimension: access to financial literacy. “Financial literacy is economic power in action,” she explains. “It is not just about understanding money. It is about understanding choice, independence and long-term influence.”

In wealth and asset management, she sees directly how knowledge of capital allocation translates into decision-making authority. Those who understand investment, risk and long-term strategy are better positioned to shape their futures and the broader economy.

Demographic trends reinforce the urgency of this shift. By 2030, women are expected to control close to 40% of global wealth (source: McKinsey & Company). As wealth creation and transfer patterns evolve, equal access to financial knowledge becomes a powerful enabler of autonomy and resilience.

“When women understand capital allocation, they influence where money flows,” she notes. “That has implications not only for individual opportunity, but for how the economic system evolves.” Balancing opportunity therefore requires not only equal access to jobs, but equal access to financial education and strategic insight.

Three practical moves for the next generation

For those entering financial sector today, Fabienne Konik offers pragmatic advice grounded in her own experience.

1. Build technical credibility early. “Be clear on what you are known for,” she says. “What is your superpower?” Excellence creates legitimacy.
2. Invest intentionally in networks and visibility. Careers do not advance on competence alone. Building relationships across functions and seniority levels, and managing one’s professional visibility, are strategic investments. “Visibility shapes your footprint,” she notes. 
3. Ask for sponsors, not only mentors. Sponsors advocate behind closed doors, where promotions and appointments are decided. “Advocacy can change outcomes,” she explains. Yet many women hesitate to seek sponsorship. Being explicit about ambition and asking for support can make a decisive difference.

Together, these steps combine personal agency with structural awareness, a dual approach which she believes is essential to lasting progress.

From measurement to momentum

Throughout her career, Fabienne Konik has focused on transformation. As President of Women in Finance France, she sees gender balance at senior level not as a standalone objective, but as a driver of better business performance and sustainable growth in an increasingly diverse financial services sector.

Balancing the scales, in her view, is ultimately about redesigning systems of power and capital allocation, and equipping individuals to navigate them with confidence.

As discussions across Euronext’s International Women’s Day events continue, her message is clear: talent is not the constraint. The decisive factor is whether institutions are willing to act with intention, invest in long-term trajectories and align leadership accountability with declared ambition.

As part of its International Women’s Day 2026 initiatives, Euronext hosted events across its locations under the theme “Balancing the scales”. The discussions brought together policymakers, business leaders and experts to reflect on fairness, transparency and inclusion in professional environments.

In Amsterdam, one of the guest speakers was Samira Rafaela, EU Pay Transparency Directive Specialist and Executive Reward, at PwC and former Member of the European Parliament, where she served as co-architect of the EU Pay Transparency Directive. She is also a visiting fellow at Cornell University Law School, where she works on the topic of gender-responsive law making and pay equity. She shares her reflections drawn from her experience in policymaking and advisory roles in this article.

Transparency as a structural tool

For Samira Rafaela, one of the most persistent imbalances lies in access to pay information. The EU Pay Transparency Directive was designed as an instrument to foster transparency and provide employees and candidates with greater insight into salary structures.

“Knowledge is power,” she notes, highlighting that greater access to information can strengthen negotiation positions and reduce structural asymmetries, particularly where information has historically been unevenly distributed.

Imbalances are also visible in access to leadership positions. Representation at senior and board level continues to shape who participates in decision-making and how priorities are set. Without access to those levels, individuals are less likely to influence outcomes.

Addressing these gaps is challenging because, as Samira Rafaela explains, many of the underlying causes are institutional. Biases and stereotypes have become embedded in governance structures and labour market systems over time. Changing outcomes therefore requires not only new rules, but a gradual transformation of organisational and institutional frameworks.

Bridging intention and implementation

Having worked both in EU policymaking and now in global consulting, working on the topic of equal pay and reward, governance, and leadership, , Samira Rafaela has observed that the gap between intention and implementation often emerges at the operational level.

Unconscious bias, she notes, is often not deliberate but has become normalised within organisations. Raising awareness is important, but it must be accompanied by structural adjustments to processes and accountability.

She also highlights that pay transparency can be perceived as administratively complex. Reviewing pay structures may uncover inconsistencies that require corrective action. From her experience, leadership plays a decisive role in determining whether organisations are willing to address such findings constructively, even when the process is uncomfortable.

Diversity of perspective in complex decision-making

Reflecting on her experience negotiating EU legislation, Samira Rafaela emphasises the importance of intersectionality in regulatory design. Discrimination and inequality rarely stem from a single characteristic.

“You can’t understand discrimination from only one perspective,” she noted, referring to the interaction of gender with ethnicity, race, orientation and disability.

Incorporating a diversity of perspectives at the decision-making table strengthens scrutiny and improves the resilience of legislation and policy outcomes. When certain voices are absent, important dimensions of impact may remain unexamined.

Culture and leadership as enablers

Beyond regulation, organisational culture determines whether inclusion efforts are sustained over time. According to Samira Rafaela, progress “stands and falls with the leadership.”

While motivated employees can initiate change, embedding fairness and inclusion into long-term strategy requires clear commitment at senior and board level. Leadership willingness to engage with complex or sensitive topics and to defend inclusive principles when necessary shapes whether initiatives become structural.

An open culture, where difficult conversations can take place constructively, also contributes to retention and engagement across diverse talent pools.

Intergenerational responsibility and shared progress

Looking ahead, Samira Rafaela emphasises the importance of intergenerational collaboration. Each generation brings valuable experience and perspective, and progress depends on mutual respect and knowledge-sharing.

She emphasised the need to “make space” for different backgrounds, experiences and ways of thinking, and to approach inclusion as a shared responsibility.

As discussions across Euronext’s International Women’s Day events illustrated, balancing the scales is an ongoing process. Transparency, inclusive governance and sustained leadership engagement remain central to fostering professional environments where diverse talent can contribute and thrive.