CNBC and LinkedIn Release Results of First-Ever Joint Gender Gap Survey

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network, today announced the results of a first-ever "Closing the Gap" survey. For the inaugural survey, CNBC and LinkedIn focused on women in finance. Together, they polled over 1,000 LinkedIn users who work in financial services to examine gender disparities within the industry.

Key findings from the "Closing the Gap: Women in Finance" survey presented by CNBC and LinkedIn include:

Men and women working in finance agree: a biased CORPORATE culture is holding women back

Roughly the same percentage of respondents (31% of females, 30% of males) believe that an unsupportive or biased CORPORATE culture is the biggest obstacle preventing women from advancing in their careers.

While executives are confident that gender discrimination is getting better, employees are less certain

Men and women have a roughly equal likelihood of seeing their company leaders change their stance on gender discrimination/harassment - with roughly 3 in 10 of all respondents seeing "change for the better" in the last year, and roughly 4 in 10 seeing "no change."

32% of executives noted they'd seen leadership's stances "change for the better"; only 23% of non-executives said the same.

Female leaders in finance aren't much more optimistic that other women will be able to follow them up the CORPORATE ladder

56% of male respondents believe men and women are equally likely to become leaders in their industry; only 37% of female respondents believe the same.

Women leaders are only slightly more optimistic than the entire population of female respondents; just 39% of women in primary decision-making roles say men and women are equally likely to become leaders in their industry. This indicates that despite their advancement, these women leaders are not optimistic that other women will be able follow in their footsteps.

Fewer than half of women believe that they have the same opportunities as their male peers

74% of men agree that "men and women are PROMOTED at an equal rate"; only 47% of women said the same.

Men are convinced that their female peers are paid the same, but women remain doubtful

75% of males agree that men and women working at the same level are paid the same at their companies; only 40% of females said the same.

Men are much more likely to believe that the "pipeline problem" in finance is real

13% of male respondents believe there are too few women who are actually eligible for promotion; only 7% of females said the same.

Across gender, everyone agrees that a more flexible schedule could help more women in the industry succeed

Women (23%) and men (17%) each list the ability for employees to work a more flexible schedule as the top way the industry can foster a more inclusive, equal workplace for women and other minority groups.

Despite these obstacles, workers across gender remain optimistic that change for the better is coming to the finance industry

Despite women feeling they face unequal treatment, 66% agree that the finance industry will shift toward more equal representation in the next 10 years; 70% of males said the same.

The LinkedIn online member survey was conducted between April 18, 2018 and April 27, 2018 with 1,010 professionals working in banking, capital markets, financial services, investment banking and investment management in the United States. Respondents self-identified their gender and were invited at a random basis.

CNBC Senior Media and Entertainment Reporter Julia Boorstin and LinkedIn Managing News Editor Caroline Fairchild will reveal the results of the "Closing the Gap: Women in Finance" survey presented by CNBC and LinkedIn today, Tuesday, June 26th on CNBC's "Squawk Box" (M-F 6AM - 9AM.) Boorstin will continue reporting on the survey throughout CNBC's Business Day programming and online at CNBC.com. Fairchild will post additional coverage on LinkedIn's platforms.

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