Success stories

Benefits and importance of diversity at the board level and senior management

Gender disparity at the board level is a worldwide issue. This can be attributed to discrepancies in female engagement in the workforce as well as a variation of cultural and social norms that make the active presence of women on corporate boards even harder to achieve.

Correcting gender-gap at the highest levels of leadership as well as increasing women’s employment in lower ranks have shown to lead to a multiplier effect. In general, increasing gender diversity at the board and senior management level can bring about the following benefits:

• Having more women in leadership positions can reduce implicit gender biases in the hiring process as well as increase pro-female advocacy within organizations.

• Broadening the enterprise’s resources, improving its performance and expanding its reach to a diverse base of clientele.

• Women in power can represent an attainable ideal, encouraging job retention and enhanced productivity amongst other females employed in financial services.

• Diversity in leadership allows for a dialogue between varying perspectives which is imperative for increasing the inclusivity of financial systems.

• Increasing female representation in leadership positions can be greatly beneficial for furthering financial inclusion.

• Women leaders are more likely to offer relevant insights on issues that disproportionately impact females.

Thus, boosting the presence of women on banks and supervisory boards as regulators and banks’ CEOs can enhance the legitimacy of decision-making processes.