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FEATURES

Why there are so few women in

banking

I n mid-September, President Droupadi Murmu pushed # according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) 2023

Global Gender Gap report.
for increased representation of women in the Gujarat
Assembly. She also called for more representation of
82 per cent of women's employment in India is
women in politics in general.
concentrated in the informal economy, says a 2021
International Labour Organisation (ILO) report.
That's about women in politics. A July article in The New
# ILO also says the gender pay gap in India stands at 27
Yorker by Louisa Thomas talks about the state of women's
soccer. "Spain qualified for the Women's World Cup for the per cent as of 2023.
first time in 2015. That was also the year that the Barcelona # The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has found that overall,
Femení, the women's side of the legendary FC Barcelona, there is 24 per cent representation of women in all
became a professional team," Thomas wrote. scheduled commercial banks.
# Finally, according to global accounting network MGI
The women's team had been around since 1970, when a Worldwide, India could add up to $770 billion to its GDP
group of female supporters of the men's club donned white by 2025 by giving equal opportunities to women.
shirts, blue shorts and Barça socks, and played a match at
Barcelona's stadium, Camp Nou, to raise money for The gender gap is not a typical India story. The WEF report
children's hospitals. For decades, they held training sessions says globally, it will take 132 years to address it! The latest
in the evening, because the team's players were also Grant Thornton study on Women in Business says that on a
students or had daytime paying jobs. The club recognised global level, women now hold 32.4 per cent of senior
the women's team officially in 2002, and in 2011, the management positions in mid-market businesses - a rise of
Femení managed to win La Liga, their first official title.

When FC Barcelona finally decided to invest in the women's
side, it had two options: Buy a championship team or build
one. It opted for the second - focusing primarily on player
development by hiring nutritionists, psychologists, fitness
coaches, medical staff, a kit manager and technical staff.

That's the way to strengthen women's representation in
every field, including banking and finance - by creating the
right ecosystem.

Let's look at a few relevant figures first.

# India ranked 127 in gender parity out of 146 countries,

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