EXCLUSIVE – In honor of International Women’s Day, it’s important to appreciate the progress women have made in the fintech world. But, it’s equally necessary to acknowledge that there’s a long way to go. Female-led startups still have a harder time getting investment, perhaps because most investment firms are led my men.

“Limited partners fund the fund, and limited partners today aren’t making diversity a criterion; until that changes nothing is going to change,” Melissa Widner, General Partner at NAB (National Australia Bank) Ventures, said at the Bank Innovation 2018 conference this week in San Francisco.

Widner wasn’t the only one who expressed that sentiment on the all-women panel on “Where and How to Invest in Fintech,” which included Shari Van Cleave, head of digital labs at Wells Fargo Bank; Stephanie Choo, partner and managing director at Portag3 Venture; and Anju Patwardhan, managing director at CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund/FoFs.

Panel moderator Seth Kenvin, VP of marketing at the engagement platform Candex, asked that wasn’t the fact that the panel, which wasn’t intentionally designed to be all female, but turned out to be so, indicative of a changing industry?

No, was the unanimous answer.

“I think conferences are making an effort to include at least one female speaker on each panel,” Wider said. “But that’s not reflective of the entire industry.”

Watch an excerpt of the panel here: