The recently published and third annual New Financial Counting Every Woman survey of gender diversity across European capital markets finds that female representation on boards and executive committees has increased to 25% and 18% respectively. Whether you think that data underwhelming or promising is likely to depend on the prism through which you look at it.

I look at it from the perspective of how things were 35 years ago, which is when I started my career in financial services, and through that lens I consider the data to be highly encouraging.