The discussion proposing a forum to support and empower women working in Bahrain’s banking and financial sectors was the practical outcome of the ‘Women in Banking Roundtable’. Female banking executives from over 15 institutions attended the seminar, jointly organized by Citibank and the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) and held at the Kempinski Ixir Hotel.
The keynote speaker was HH Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chairwoman of Al Salam Bank and Executive Director of inJAz Bahrain. She gave a passionate and detailed account of the role of women in the banking and financial sector, pointing out that this is the largest single employer in the Kingdom, with over 14,400 people and with women making up 37 percent of that workforce. “However, the majority of that percentile hold only junior to middle management roles”, she said.
“Women in the workplace, in particular in the banking sector, continue to be dismally represented, especially in more senior banking roles. It is clear that women aren’t currently progressing as far, or as high, as their male counterparts. This is not only a local issue, but is also an epidemic that is spread across the globe,” Shaikha Hessa, said.
She listed the challenges facing women in the financial sector as being: the prevailing attitude towards women; an existing male-dominated workforce; the organisational culture and a lack of female role models. Shaikha Hessa concluded with a call for proactive initiatives to counter the challenges to women’s career advancement in banking. “The biggest challenge women face in their career advancement in banking today is not about organisational processes, but is about awareness, attitudes and the culture of the organisation. These issues ought to be changed if banks wish to achieve gender diversification at senior levels. This will call for a sizeable shift in both organisational and social culture and attitudes,” she added.
The roundtable was also addressed by Sabah Khalil Al Moayyed, herself a banker with three decades of experience in the financial sector, most recently as Chief Executive Officer and a Board Member of Eskan Bank, a post she relinquished only last month. She fully endorsed Shaikha Hessa’s call for action to support and promote more women in the financial and banking sector.
Al Moayyed explained the importance of family support: “I come from a family with high expectations of women in education and the profession. This was very important in allowing me to set my sights high in my chosen profession. I also realised that to progress in my chosen profession I had to acquire skills throughout the sector and I moved during my career through all departments of the banks in which I worked.” Al Moayyed said she resigned as the Chief Executive Officer of Eskan Bank to devote her energies to empowering women and housing issues in Bahrain.
Citibank’s Chief Executive Officer, Mazin Manna, who opened the roundtable, underlined the bank’s commitment to diversity. “We recognise this as one of our competitive advantages, which is enhanced by attracting, retaining and developing the top female talent in the industry. At 53 percent, women make up more than half of Citi’s workforce globally. In Bahrain, 30 per cent of our Citibank workforce is women, of which 62 percent are officers; 36 percent of our new hires in 2012 were women,” he said.
Two Citibank executives also shared their own experiences including Nahad Bardestani, VP for Treasury Operations and Citi Islamic Operations in the Middle East and Huda Hussain Ali, Assistant VP for Corporate Banking.
After a very lively question-and-answer session between the audience of women executives and the speakers, Manna closed the event with a suggestion to follow up on this event with a proposal to form a working group to come up with recommendations on how best to further the development of women in the banking sector.