Saturday 22 February 2014

Society: The door was always open, the mind was always shut.

Does society reflect the banking sector, or does the banking sector reflect society? Society has indeed changed in the past 50 years for women especially in Ireland. The marriage ban in the 50‘s is now gone, equality legislation is in place and society is more liberal than in the past. 

I interviewed Gay Liston, a former bank manager of AIB (1948-1990) on the 18th of February this year. Seeking her inside views about her experience of of women in banking. The interview was conducted via phone call. After initial discussion I asked her 

“Did you ever experience any gender inequality in the banking sector?” 

she responded with a strong

“absolutely”. 

Women in banks have not historically had the same opportunities as men, for a number of reasons diverging from deliberate male exclusion practices to the broken and often short term nature of many women’s work histories (Crompton, 1989)  Gay strengthened this argument by revealing woman in the same position as a man in the banking sector would always get paid less. 
She even experienced gender inequality from the customers, it would however have been from a very chauvinistic male client.

“Until the 70’s women were put on mainly operational jobs, no matter what skills they possessed”. 

As a manager she found it extremely aggravating seeing an average male being promoted over an intelligent woman. Although the door was always technically open to women, the mind was invariably shut. Stacey (1982) suggested that men could have been afraid of putting women in advisory roles as they were very important roles. This could reflect upon the fear of the unknown.

I asked her if the banking world suited a female’s lifestyle, initially she didn’t think too much into it, however she then recalled that often the meetings were held on a golf course, at a GAA match or even in a pub, all of which she said were only open to men. 


She concluded that there was a sense of some reform in the 80’s and hoped that it was a non-existent issue in society today. In 1980, the organisation Women in Banking was founded. The primary aim of the Group was to encourage more women to pursue a career in banking and provide a support network for those that had already begun. It is possible that through memetic isomorphism this organisation helped women in the Irish banking sector attain more opportunities. 

When we reflect back to those early days and the fact that there was a need to have a group such as Women in Banking, a group that still exists today;  we have to ask ourselves why it still exists in todays society and if it still fulfils the needs as envisaged by its founders.

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