US Banks Try to Increase Number of Women in Workforce
The US finance industry is being pressurized to reduce the female dropout rate in the banking sector.
Major finance companies such as J. P. Morgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Inc., and others have realized that they cannot depend on women’s organizations alone. They have therefore adopted a variety of measures, including special events, programs, symposiums, and others to attract talented women from all age groups, including graduates, mid-level professionals, and mothers trying to re-enter the workforce after several years of raising children.
The banks are happy about the results. Female participants of the above-mentioned programs have succeeded in finding sponsors and getting promotions. They have also shown a tendency to remain in the banking sector for a longer time.
Although the number of women entering the banking field is around the same as the number of men who do so, their number falls at the higher rungs of the leadership ladder. The biggest banks in the US have never had a woman CEO, and the number of women reaching the top spots hasn’t increased in later years.
According to a research study conducted by McKinsey and Co and LeanIn.Org, only 20% of the executive officers of the six biggest banks in the US are female, a number that has increased by only 1% over the last five years. After considering a wider range of companies in the finance industry, one can see that only 22% C-suite positions, 32% vice-president posts, and 52% entry-level posts are held by women.
Although research studies suggest that the banking sector’s efforts to introduce more women into the workforce are better than the others, it is under pressure to do more. Robin Ely, faculty chairwoman of the Gender Initiative at Harvard Business School, says:
I don’t think we should be happy with 20%; it’s a problem.
She says that examination of work culture and structure, definition of leadership, and language used while evaluating both genders should be combined with targeted programs.
The banks claim that they are doing their best. In July 30, Michael Corbat, the chief executive officer of Citigroup, took part in a one-day session targeting a group of senior women all over the world to identify the priorities of the Citi Women Initiative of the company, which connects its various women’s groups.
Meanwhile, J. P. Morgan has invested huge amounts in a couple of pilot programs to prepare college graduates for a program to train technology analysts.
