One in five women in asset management has suffered sexual harassment at work, according to an FTfm survey of 730 fund industry staff, which shows that sexism continues to plague the market.

The global survey of both men and women found that another third of female asset management staff had experienced sexist behaviour at work on a weekly or monthly basis and that 15 per cent had felt under pressure to exploit their sexuality at work.

One of the 488 female respondents to the survey, who asked to remain anonymous, referred to sexist abuse by clients, managers and colleagues as “routine”. She said: “[My bosses invent] perverted nicknames about parts of our bodies and fantasise about pornographic scenes. Clients hit on [me] nonstop. I can’t dress like I would in another job and I purposely don’t wear make-up.”