Why there are so few women in banking

In mid-September, President Droupadi Murmu pushed for increased representation of women in the Gujarat Assembly. She also called for more representation of women in politics in general.

That's about women in politics. A July article in The New Yorker by Louisa Thomas talks about the state of women's soccer. "Spain qualified for the Women's World Cup for the first time in 2015. That was also the year that the Barcelona Femení, the women's side of the legendary FC Barcelona, became a professional team," Thomas wrote.

The women's team had been around since 1970, when a group of female supporters of the men's club donned white shirts, blue shorts and Barça socks, and played a match at Barcelona's stadium, Camp Nou, to raise money for children's hospitals. For decades, they held training sessions in the evening, because the team's players were also students or had daytime paying jobs. The club recognised the women's team officially in 2002, and in 2011, the Femení managed to win La Liga, their first official title.

When FC Barcelona finally decided to invest in the women's side, it had two options: Buy a championship team or build one. It opted for the second - focusing primarily on player development by hiring nutritionists, psychologists, fitness coaches, medical staff, a kit manager and technical staff.

That's the way to strengthen women's representation in every field, including banking and finance - by creating the right ecosystem.

Let's look at a few relevant figures first.

India ranked 127 in gender parity out of 146 countries, according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) 2023 Global Gender Gap report.

82 per cent of women's employment in India is concentrated in the informal economy, says a 2021 International Labour Organisation (ILO) report.

ILO also says the gender pay gap in India stands at 27 per cent as of 2023.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has found that overall, there is 24 per cent representation of women in all scheduled commercial banks.