Climbing the banking ladder in high heels

Women hold less than 10 percent of the top management posts at the euro-area’s biggest banks. 

“The situation is almost frozen at the top,” 

said Helene Perivier, a gender-issues economist at France’s Observatory for Economic Trends. Anti-discrimination rules are more credible in the U.S., forcing top financial institutions to provide strong signals by sharing powerful jobs to avoid sanctions(Benedetti-Valentini, 2014). On the 6^th of March The Pennsylvania Bankers Association held its first stateside Women in Banking conference.  This is being hosted to promote awareness of the issues women face in banking. 

Statistics that measure men and women against each other in the top end of the banking sector can often be a little disheartening. Taking a different approach on how we measure could lead to a more positive, welcoming banking sector for women. To look at the growth rates from year on year, position on position, women are performing. They are making the top positions. And rightly so. Janet Yellen Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve a proven leader who is highly qualified for what Obama termed one of the most important nominations a president can make.  She is now considered the most powerful women in the history of the universe (Kolhatkar, 2013). Recovering from a sector that was not so long ago dominant by males, a sedimented layered set of changes could be better than disruptive change. 

Women are making significant advances in the banking sector in India, a country that women have suffered a second class status. Last year Arundhati Bhaatacharya was appointed chairwoman of State Bank of India. She became the first woman to hold the top position in the banks history (Ghosh, 2014).

Bernadette Macko is a former part-time teller, and is now the first vice president and corporate cash management manager at Provident. A few years back Provident planned to set out a group called women in banking. When Macko heard this she was uninterested. She explained she spent too much time trying to establish herself as a banker that she was not going to be suddenly branded as a woman in banking (cited in Johnston, 2014). 

Chie Shimpo will next month be the first female to become president of Nomura Trust and Banking. This brokerage will be the first of the Japanese biggest banks to have a female president. The central bank, bank of Japan has just one woman on its nine-member board. She stated that she didn’t think it was a disadvantage for her being a woman in the banking sector (Business Standard, 2014). Christine Lagarde head the Internations Monetary Fund in 2011(Taibleson, 2014).Kamit Flug recently appointed governor of the Bank of Israel (Press, 2014). The list of these successful bankers goes on. However it could be argued that the working environment could become more female friendly to encourage women to apply. 

Despite being reflected as a women friendly sector, the majority of top positions in the banking industry have been occupied by men for several years. However, taking a look at some of these women above the evidence is pointing in a change in direction. The banking industry is showing that it does accept female bankers, although the ratio is low, the growth is high. Could the glass ceiling be shattering? On a day such as today, International Women's Day, its a time to reflect on the progress and plan for future development.