The Triple Glass Ceiling: the gendered and racialised inequalities of FinTech

这项博士研究将运用批判性的视角来研究金融科技，进一步促进我从本科论文开始的研究兴趣。存在一个重大的悖论：金融科技正在推进金融服务，同时使对妇女的歧视持续存在（Sparks和Eckenrode, 2020； Clempner等人，2020;Brett, 2018）。金融科技领域普遍存在的性别不平等是金融（c.f.， ellinggrud等人，2021;McDowell, 1997）和技术（c.f.， Nash和Moore, 2019; Massey, 1995）部门以及创业领域（c.f. Rose, 2019； Balachandra等人，2019；Kanze等人，2017）歧视性做法的结果，最终导致金融科技领域女性的“三重玻璃天花板”。金融科技内部的不平等显然跨越了多个差异轴。我的博士研究将通过借鉴女权主义思想、后殖民和非殖民学术，批判性地参与金融科技。具体来说，研究将围绕“什么”、“为什么”和“那又怎么样”展开。最初的重点将是对性别和种族多样性的现状进行详细分析，因为在文献中仍然缺乏对当代金融科技多样性的详细量化。这将发展到询问种族化和性别化的参与障碍——为什么。这项调查的一个重要方面将是调查任何地理影响：一个国家的文化和治理如何影响金融科技的多样性？我将发展这一点，以研究投资行业内的多样性和障碍（Dempsey, 2021, Kanze et al., 2017）。分析的最后一部分将探讨那么是什么；对更广泛社会的影响。特别是，我想研究金融科技生态系统多样性与消费者金融包容性之间的联系（Chen et al., 2021; Bhagat and Roderick, 2020）。我还将把这一点与FemTech结合起来，这是一种最近的、研究不足的现象（FemTech Analytics, 2021; Faubion, 2021）。这项研究将采用混合方法。我将从1000家金融科技公司中提取一个综合数据库，这些公司来自不同的成长阶段、地理位置和子行业。每家公司将通过各种措施进行评估，例如，执行委员会的多样性和融资金额。然后将应用统计分析来调查特定的模式。还将对金融科技生态系统内的各种个人进行100次半结构化访谈。我们将采访来自金融科技行业的各种性别和背景的个人：从金融科技首席执行官到新创业者、创始人、金融科技天使投资人和风险投资家。访谈的纳入反映了金融地理学家越来越多地采用定性方法，对该学科产生了积极影响（Wójcik, 2021）。访谈将允许深入的生活经验被捕获，使用受访者自己的参考框架（Seitz, 2016; McDowell, 1998）。这将分析从数字扩展到更具体、更抽象的东西，这对于理解金融科技中边缘化个人的日常生活体验非常重要。我的博士研究有很大的潜力在学术界和非学术界产生深远的影响。由于金融科技日益增长的主导地位，对金融科技进行批判性的讯问是极其重要的。目前的注意力主要集中在预示金融科技是一种充满创新和潜力的金融时代精神（Kalifa, 2021; Makina, 2019）。然而，这忽略了造成普遍不平等的重大歧视性做法，特别是跨性别和种族的不平等。

This doctoral research will apply a critical perspective to FinTech, furthering my research interests that began with my undergraduate dissertation. A significant paradox exists: FinTech is advancing financial services, whilst perpetuating discrimination against women (Sparks and Eckenrode, 2020; Clempner et al., 2020; Brett, 2018). The gender inequalities pervasive across FinTech are the result of discriminatory practices in both the financial (c.f., Ellingrud et al., 2021; McDowell, 1997) and technology (c.f., Nash and Moore, 2019; Massey, 1995) sectors, and within entrepreneurship (c.f. Rose, 2019; Balachandra et al., 2019; Kanze et al., 2017), culminating in a 'triple glass ceiling' for women in FinTech to navigate. The inequalities within FinTech clearly extend across multiple axes of difference. My doctoral research will critically engage with FinTech by drawing upon feminist thought, postcolonial, and decolonial scholarship. Specifically, the research will be structured on asking 'what', 'why', and 'so what'. The initial focus will be on producing a detailed analysis of what the current state of gender and racial diversity is because a detailed quantification of contemporary FinTech diversity remains alarmingly absent in the literature. This will progress to interrogating the racialised and gendered barriers to participation - the why. An important dimension of this enquiry will be investigating any geographical impact: how does the culture and governance of a country influence FinTech diversity? I will develop this to also examine the diversity and barriers within the investment industry (Dempsey, 2021, Kanze et al., 2017). The final part of the analysis will explore the so what; the impact on the wider society. In particular, I want to research the link between the FinTech ecosystem diversity and consumer financial inclusivity (Chen et al., 2021; Bhagat and Roderick, 2020). I will also interweave this with FemTech, a more recent, under-researched phenomenon (FemTech Analytics, 2021; Faubion, 2021).The research will take a mixed methods approach. I will produce a comprehensive database drawn from 1000 FinTech companies across different growth stages, geographies, and subsectors. Each company will be assessed across various measures, for example, executive committee diversity and funding amounts. Statistical analysis will then be applied to investigate particular patterns. 100 semi-structured interviews with a diverse range of individuals within the FinTech ecosystem will also be carried out. Individuals of all genders and from a range of backgrounds will be interviewed, drawn from across the FinTech industry: from FinTech CEOs to new starters, founders, and FinTech angel investors and venture capitalists. The inclusion of interviews is reflective of the increasing uptake of qualitative methods by financial geographers, positively influencing the discipline (Wójcik, 2021). Interviews will allow in-depth lived experiences to be captured , using the interviewee's own frame of reference (Seitz, 2016; McDowell, 1998). This stretches the analysis beyond the numerical into something more tangible and less abstract, which is important for understanding the day-to-day lived experiences for marginalised individuals in FinTech. There is significant potential for my doctoral research to have a profound impact within academic and non-academic circles. A critical interrogation of FinTech is extremely important because of FinTech's growing dominance. Current attention is largely centred on heralding FinTech as a financial zeitgeist full of innovation and potential (Kalifa, 2021; Makina, 2019). However, this elides the significant discriminatory practices that give rise to pervasive inequalities, notably across the axes of gender and race.