Originally posted in The Daily Star on 13 March 2025
Female banker ratio edges up after post-pandemic decline
After slightly declining since the Covid-19 outbreak, the proportion of women among bankers edged up last year, giving hope of a more gender-inclusive banking sector.
In 2020, females accounted for over 18 percent of the sector’s workforce, according to the Bangladesh Bank’s (BB) “Gender Equality Report of Banks and Financial Institutions”.
In 2021, it declined to 16.03 percent. Yet last year, it stood at 17.57 percent.
In other words, there were 37,649 women among the sector’s 214,245 officials and employees.
However, one expert was of the opinion that this was no significant positive trend. Instead, it suggests that women are not truly welcomed to this sector, he said.
WHAT THE BANK AUTHORITIES ARE SAYING
Mahia Juned, additional managing director and chief operating officer of City Bank PLC, said during the pandemic, a few female officers and employees left their jobs.
“This was because banking operations had to continue at that time. However, many of their families did not allow them to go to their offices,” she said.
She added that due to business downturns, cost-cutting measures were implemented, leading to a reduction in hiring in 2020 and 2021. “This trend is reflected in the regulator’s data,” she noted.
Juned further said as business conditions improved, hiring also increased.
“Speaking about our bank specifically, we have actively focused on increasing female recruitment,” she said.
Currently, females make up over 18.50 percent of the bank’s workforce, which was around 16 percent just one and a half years ago.
“Our goal is to increase the proportion of female employees to 20 percent by 2027,” she said.
Juned also said for the past 13 years, the bank has prioritised hiring women. “A decade ago, there were hardly any female officials at the senior level,” she said.
Mohammad Ali, managing director and chief executive officer of Pubali Bank PLC, said the banking sector, especially at the operations level, offers good job opportunities for women.
“It is suitable in every aspect—work-friendly and respectful,” he said.
Due to the pandemic, some jobs were cut, and some employees resigned voluntarily, he explained.
“If we consider Dhaka district alone, female participation in every bank would be around 30 percent. In some places, it is 40 percent,” added Ali.
Interest in banking jobs among females has increased and will grow even further, he said.
“One notable factor is that many women prefer to stay in Dhaka since their husbands or family members reside there,” he added.
In 2019, female participation in the total workforce at Mutual Trust Bank PLC was 19.06 percent. It has since increased to reach 19.43 percent last year.
This came about for the enabling of a women-friendly work environment encouraging work-life balance, and implementation of a robust anti-harassment policy, said Ashraf Ali, head of organizational development and learning at MTB Group Human Resources.
Any decline since the pandemic can be attributed to factors such as migration to foreign countries, cultural expectations to care for children and family members, and the pursuit of better opportunities in other companies, he added.
HOW MUCH IMPACT HAS COVID-19 HAD?
A staggering 7,167 bankers lost their jobs between April 2020 and September 2021 as private commercial banks desperately tried to cut operational costs amid a business slowdown caused by the COVID-19.
These people, who were either fired or forced to resign, represented nearly 6 percent of the 122,912 officials and employees in the banking sector of Bangladesh as of June 2021.
At that time, 51 private banks had informed the BB that they had sacked 1,292 employees, while another 5,875 resigned.
WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING
Shah Md Ahsan Habib, a professor at the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, said the recruitment of female officials and employees in Bangladesh’s job market was not conducted in a highly organised manner.
“If it were, this would have been reflected in the Bangladesh Bank’s report,” he mentioned.
Only 16 or 17 percent of the total workforce being female does not indicate any significant positive trend. Instead, it suggests that women are not truly welcomed in this sector, he added.
Rather, the current trend shows that banks have not introduced any additional preferential policies or strategies to increase female recruitment, he said.
As an example, he mentioned that if the percentage had risen from 10 to 20 percent, it would have indicated a distinct prioritisation of female hiring.
Fahmida Khatun, executive director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said, “First, it is good that the share of female employees has been increasing since 2021. However, it is still lower than that in 2020.”
“From 2020 onwards, the share of female employees in the banking sector was declining. This could be partly due to the pandemic and partly due to reduced female recruitment by banks,” she said.
“Overall, the share of female employees is still low, and they should be encouraged to join this sector through the creation of an enabling environment,” Fahmida mentioned.
Since working hours in the banking sector are usually long, many women do not want to take up the profession. Many female employees also leave banking jobs when pressured to focus on family responsibilities, she said.
“If there is an opportunity for them to return after a few years, they will be encouraged to join this sector,” she said.