VNExpress-Mar 8
Women are strongly represented in Vietnam’s banking sector, but are absent from many senior leadership positions, according to a new study. Women make up 68% of employees at the 18 banks surveyed, but are overrepresented at the entry level, where they account for 60% of the workforce. They are also underrepresented in senior (33%) and top-level (26%) management roles, according to the study “Mind the gap: Getting more women into leadership in Vietnam’s banking sector” by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with the State Bank of Vietnam. “While Vietnam is doing better than some other countries in terms of women in bank management, this report clearly shows more should be done to turn commitments into practical steps enabling women to move into leadership positions,” Thomas Jacobs, IFC country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, said in a press release on Tuesday. Based on surveys of nearly 40,000 employees from banks as well as sit-down interviews with senior and middle bank managers, the study also showed women wanted better support for work-life balance. Kim See Lim, IFC’s regional director for East Asia and the Pacific, said organizations with gender-balanced boards and leadership teams have better business performance, more innovation, more diverse teams, and better employee engagement than organizations that have few or no women in leadership. Read more at:
