Women’s participation in banks rises nearly 7%
Foreign banks have the highest number of women employees with 25.94%, followed by private commercial banks with 19.21%, state-run banks with 16.48%, and specialised banks with 14.27%
The participation of women in the banking sector has increased by 6.89% over the last year, a comparison of the Bangladesh Bank's half-yearly reports shows.
The number of women officials in the sector reached 31,548, slightly higher than 16% of the total manpower, at the end of June this year. The number was 29,513 in June 2021.
The central bank's latest half-yearly report also shows that foreign banks have the highest number of women employees with 25.94%, followed by private commercial banks with 19.21%, state-run banks with 16.48%, and specialised banks with 14.27%.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"Gender equality is the 5th among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals[SDGs]. So, Bangladesh is giving more importance to achieving this target and empowering women in all the fields," it reads.
"Yet, the participation of women in top positions such as directors' boards is still low. Between January to June 2022, the participation of women as board members was only 13.56%," it adds.
Women as board members were the highest at 15.91% in foreign commercial banks and the lowest at 4% in specialised banks.
"As banks offer better job security and overall security to women, compared to other public and private sectors, women participation in banks has been on the rise," said Rokeya Khatun, director of the Chief Economist's Unit of the Bangladesh Bank.
"Besides, maternity leave and good transportation facilities are also the key reasons behind women's preference for bank jobs," she told The Business Standard.
The central bank report noted child day care centres, sexual harassment prevention/awareness policy formulation, women's travel facilities, and awareness training on gender equality as the reasons behind the rise in women's participation in the sector.
It also said the rate of changing workplaces by women in specialised commercial banks was higher than that of state-owned, foreign, and private banks.
Meanwhile, the number of women employees in non-bank financial institutions stood at 1,046 at the end of June this year, up by only 7 in December 2021.
"Despite the increase in child day care centres in financial institutions, the growth of women employees there was low due to a lack of good transportation facilities and gender awareness training."
In addition, the amount of bank loans to women entrepreneurs has also increased.
At the end of June this year, the total credit of women in the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprise (CMSME) sector stood at Tk 1,0445 crore or 4.45% of the total loans to the sector. It was Tk8,801 crore or 4.08% of the total loans in June last year.
