International Women’s Day 2026: Confidence, Career Growth, and Imposter Syndrome

This year’s International Women's Day 2026 theme is "Give to Gain," focusing on fostering a mindset of generosity, collaboration, and support to accelerate gender equality. This theme encourages giving time, resources, and advocacy to empower women, emphasizing that when women thrive, everyone benefits. To help celebrate this year’s International Women's Day 2026, senior leaders across the actuarial profession have given their time to take part in an honest conversation about imposter syndrome. Whether you’re newly qualified, mid‑career, or in a senior leadership role, many actuaries will recognise that quiet voice that says: “Do I really belong here?”

The session will include:

• Senior actuaries sharing their personal experiences of self‑doubt, confidence dips, career turning points, and how they learned to build resilience and self-belief.
• Jennifer Loftus, Chair of the SAI’s Gender Pipeline Working Group, providing research on how imposter syndrome shows up early in girls and young women — and what that means for the future of STEM and actuarial careers.

• Ian Robertson, clinical psychologist and neuroscientist, who has published widely on science‑based perspectives on how confidence is shaped — and how we can change it.

   

Why This Matters: Imposter syndrome doesn’t only affect individuals — it influences talent pipelines, leadership progression, and how we support the next generation of actuaries. By understanding its roots and hearing real stories from within our profession, we strengthen not only ourselves, but our profession.