Create a favourable working environment for women in financial sector

Women’s participation in the country’s financial sector had been quite encouraging in recent years. It offered a glimpse of the possibility of gender equality. In particular, with the participation of educated women in the economy, signs were visible of narrowing the gap between men and women. But regrettably, women employees in the financial sector have recently been decreasing. According to Bangladesh Bank’s latest ‘Gender Equality Report of Banks and Financial Institutions’, the number of women employees has dropped by 2,000 in just six months. Even as it is, the country lags behind most others in terms of women’s participation in the economy. Against this backdrop, a fall in women employees in the banking sector is undoubtedly alarming. 

According to reports published in the media yesterday, Thursday (18 September), during July–December of last year, the number of women employees in government, private and foreign scheduled banks and financial institutions was 37,649. By the end of the first half of this year (January–June), that number had declined to 35,782. This means that in six months, the number of women employees in banks has fallen by almost 2,000, or about 5 per cent.

According to Bangladesh Bank, at the end of June, the total number of employees in the country’s 61 scheduled banks, both men and women, was over 213,000, of which women accounted for 17 per cent. The remaining 83 per cent were men. In addition, at the end of June, women made up 17 per cent of the workforce in non-bank financial institutions. In other words, in financial institutions, for every five male employees, there is barely one female employee. Within banks and financial institutions, women are concentrated in entry-level and mid-level positions. At higher positions, the number of women is far fewer compared to men.

The report states that in order to ensure a women-friendly working environment in the country’s banks, key indicators such as child day-care centres, transport facilities, and training programmes have deteriorated in the first six months of this year compared to the previous six months. The sharpest decline has been in transport facilities for women after office hours. In the last six months of last year, 52 per cent of women in banks had access to this facility. In the past six months, it has dropped to 37 per cent.

The report mentions several reasons behind the decline in the number of women employees in the banking sector. Alongside this, officials of several banks have also cited certain reasons. The banking sector is now expanding mainly into rural areas. But due to family and personal reasons, female officers prefer to remain in Dhaka or in big cities. This trend of decline in women employees is mostly evident in private commercial banks. In the first half of this year, women’s participation in private banks dropped from 17.9 per cent to 16.62 per cent, a trend not observed in foreign, specialised, or state-owned banks.

At the same time, socially unsafe conditions for women in the workplace have also emerged, it is reported. Many women employees have said they had no choice but to resign. In any workplace in our country, it is extremely challenging for women to work. They continue their work facing those challenges. For educated women, the banking sector had been a relatively comfortable and tolerant workplace. But it is now being reported that this environment too is deteriorating. It is imperative to take this report seriously and create a proper working environment for women. The government must take swift action in this regard.