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FEATURES

just 1 percentage point in the past one year. It was around Even the RBI suffers from this ailment. The Gender Balance
19.4 per cent in 2004, when Grant Thornton initiated this Index 2023 of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions
study. Forum, an independent think tank concerned with central
banking, economic policy and public investment, says the
Software is one segment where women have been forging Asia-Pacific region scores poorly across financial institutions.
ahead in India. The overall women headcount at five large Its regional score is 20 or below for central banks, pension
software companies has jumped 77 per cent, compared funds and sovereign funds, and that for commercial banks
with a 62 per cent rise in male employees, according to data has dropped to 29 from 30 in 2022.
compiled by specialist staffing firm Xpheno. The share of
women employees across these five companies stood at The Asia-Pacific is the second worst performing region, and
34.1 per cent in the first quarter of FY2024, up from 31.7 the score dropped due to lower women representation at
per cent five years ago. the People's Bank of China and the RBI, "which were already
poor performers". The RBI's annual report carries the
Unfortunately, that's not the case with the banking sector. number of total staff, but does not specify the gender
variation. Going by the Businessline report, as on January
Tarjani Vakil was the first woman to reach the top at Export- 1, 2023, of the 13,000-plus RBI employees, 23 per cent were
Import Bank of India in 1996. Ranjana Kumar became the women.
chairperson and managing director (CMD) of Indian Bank
four years later. She also headed the National Bank for Incidentally, in June 2022, RBI Deputy Governor Michael
Agriculture and Rural Development. The second woman Debabrata Patra had said India's women workforce
boss in a commercial bank is HA Daurwalla of the Central participation is among the lowest in the world - worse than
Bank of India (2005). It took a little over three decades after even Pakistan - and it is going down. "It is because we are
nationalisation for a woman to become a bank's CEO. There not creating a friendly place at work for our women."
is also Naina Lal Kidwai, who became the CEO of HSBC India
in 2006. A March 2023 report (Mind the Gender Gap) by the CFA
Institute pointed out that in India and elsewhere, a majority
At the RBI, it was 68 years before a woman reached the of women face sexual harassment in the workplace, but they
deputy governor's post (Kishori J Udeshi, who took over in don't report it. It also found that there were no gender
June 2003). The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or differences in skills training by companies, and highlighted
Sebi, got its first woman boss in 2022. For the State Bank of implicit biases that influence reviews for women and, in turn,
India, the nation's largest lender, the wait was 206 long years their career progression.
until Arundhati Bhattacharya took the corner office in
October 2013. The most significant boost to achieving gender parity could
come from a commitment from companies to provide
The 2010 Anil Khandelwal report on HR in banking had found flexible working. Policies such as six months of maternity
that at that time, women accounted for 17 per cent of leave and two-year childcare are progressive steps, but
employees in public sector banks (PSBs), and only 2.7 per these are not enough to encourage women. The Grant
cent of them were in executive positions. The ratio has Thornton report says businesses that offer hybrid, flexible
improved since, but not significantly. Between FY07 and or home working, outperform when it comes to women in
FY21, the proportion of women employees in PSBs rose by senior management.
12.7 percentage points - from 14.3 per cent to 27 per cent.
In all scheduled commercial banks, the proportion of women Also, the much talked about environmental, social and
employees during this period rose by 9.1 percentage points, governance (ESG) norms can change the scene since
from 14.8 per cent to 23.9 per cent, a January BusinessLine companies are looking to create diverse leadership teams.
report says. In private and foreign banks, the participation Without diversity, they may find it difficult to raise capital.
of women in the workforce has shown miniscule growth. (Source: Business Standard)

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