Banks upbeat on gender inclusion despite cultural odds

KARACHI: Though banks have made slow progress towards gender equality, they are committed to adopt policies and processes to drive diversity and equal opportunity, especially when it comes to boost the number of women in leading roles in the financial industry of Pakistan, bankers said.

This pledge follows a recent central bank’s draft policy titled “Banking on Equality Policy: Reducing the Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion”.

In interviews, some top executives and heads of human resources at various banks ranging from commercial to Islamic and microfinance, explained why women workers are left behind in the male-dominated banking sector and what steps their management is taking to increase the proportion of women in the workforce at banks and how the country’s lenders can meet global standards on gender diversity in boardrooms and in management positions.

Women have been active participants in Pakistan’s banking industry for decades; yet their participation has not been visible in the highest echelons of banks’ managements.

Gender diversity in banks across Pakistan is very low. Only 13 percent of the staff in banks is women, while only one percent of branchless banking agents are females.

“There is a need to work on improving institutional diversity through product diversification and development capabilities with offerings targeted to women in the workforce across SBP regulated entities including commercial and microfinance banks. This is bound to enhance women’s participation in the workforce across the country,” said Mudassar Aqil, CEO at Telenor Microfinance Bank and Easypaisa.

The state of financial inclusion is not also very encouraging. According to statistics from the State Bank of Pakistan, only 18 percent of women have a formal bank account in Pakistan. This is significantly low compared to the percentage of women in the overall population or even in relation to other countries with similar economic conditions as ours.

“At Telenor Microfinance Bank, we believe in developing a diverse workforce to address the challenges of a dynamic marketplace. We have women commanding top roles in the bank because we believe that diversity drives innovation,” Aqil said.

“In order to foster progressive work environments where women have the mental and physical freedom to develop their careers, we provide ample opportunities for women to prove themselves and achieve the positions that they desire,” he added.

Sheeza Ahmed, a senior vice president at Habib Metropolitan Bank, said it was now mandatory for all publicly listed companies to have one female on their Board of Directors. “There is now much greater focus and progress on this front within banks.

The SBP has a female deputy governor who is providing much-needed focus to this initiative. She has served as a CEO of one of the largest commercial banks in Pakistan, in the past,” Ahmed said.

She said bankers see advantages of having more women in senior management, and on the banks’ boards as banks with a mixed workforce could perform better, compared to those that have less, therefore gender diversity could lead banks to make more profits.

“The greater the diversity within your team, the more diverse is your team’s pool of skills. Drawing on the power and richness of diversity, as enables all teams to drive better results – whether it’s a board of directors, senior management or any specific function,” Ahmed said.

Bankers said the diversity and inclusion in not someone else’s responsibility.

Muhammad Umer, Head of Human Resources at Standard Chartered Pakistan, said, “The responsibility comes down to all of us and with collective responsibility we can create infrastructure to support inclusive practices such as a robust maternity leave policies, daycare provisions etc”.

Umer said banks needed to promote flexible and new ways of working and set the tone right from the top. “The recruitment shortlists should be gender diverse and if they…