Background: WIPN (WE Inspire. Promote. Network) along with Escalent and partners DCIIA, OneDigital, Fidelity, CUNA Mutual, Columbia Threadneedle, and Paychex conducted research on over 1,200 women and men in the retirement industry. This research explores retirement industry employee needs, attitudes, and behaviors in the areas of networking, compensation, and career paths.Previous research identified opportunities to improve women’s work experiences and support their success. This year brings a gender comparison and further emphasizes the particular challenges for women of color. A September 15th DCIIA/WIPN webinar with Theresa Conti, Lindsey Dickman, and Pam Hess will dive deeper into these topics.Findings:Positively, there is near-parity between women and men in some areas: feeling respected when contributing ideas; compensation; and satisfaction with areas like education/industry expertise, career role performance, and personal lifestyle. However, challenges continue to hold women back in their advancement. 75% identify a barrier to success at work versus 62% of men. Women are more likely to be caretakers, be promoted without a pay raise, rely on a ‘cold lead’ to get a job, and lack a relationship with decision-makers at work.Men are necessary allies in promoting diverse workplaces. While four in ten women say there are too few women in leadership roles in their department, only a quarter of men share this sentiment.Most findings are more negative for women of color:Twice as many women of color were promoted without a raise (20% women of color, 10% white women, 6% men).Nearly three out of every four women of color are caretakers (74% women of color, 57% white women, 49% men).Only half of women of color are satisfied with their level of seniority given skills and experience, compared to two-thirds of men and nearly as many white women (51% women of color, 63% white women, 66% men).Perhaps unsurprisingly, women of color are also more likely to consider leaving their current companies, and almost a quarter often consider leaving the financial services industry as a whole.Bottom Line: Women in the retirement industry continue to face hurdles along their career journeys, and this is strongly evident among women of color. There is a threat that diversity gains will be lost given flight risk. While the industry is rightfully increasing its focus on and resources dedicated to addressing these issues, there is more work to be done.