Tag: women leader

In the last few weeks, two headlines became very famous and all the verticals of the media around the world carried it. First was Kamala Harris who took over as a vice president of the United States of America. And the second is Jane Fraser, who took over as CEO of CitiBank. The common factor in both the stories is not just that they belong to America… but both of them are the first women candidates in the role.

What surprises me is the largest economy, and the most developed country in the world never ever had any woman in these roles in the past. Forget politics, not even in banking. Despite being a global bank operating in almost 50 countries, it’s hard to believe that CITI took more than 200 years to find a women leader.

Dr B R Ambedkar said, “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved,”

Ambedkar’s statement is quite laudable in India‘s financial world. Because India had and also has a number of women leaders in the sector. Look at the accompanying chart. This is not a complete list.

Present Women Leaders

Women leaders in past

Due to space crunch I have only added a few names but women leaders are an integral part of the India’s finance sector. From Deputy Governors at RBI and Whole Time Members at SEBI and even emerging areas like FinTechs, and technology also have many women CEOs.It requires a refined mind and a dedication to follow a great schedule to maintain a work life balance. For women it’s far trickier… In my recent conversation with Padmaja Chunduru, MD & CEO of Indian Bank, she said that she travelled to a village with a three- month-old infant. I am sure every lady has a breathtaking journey.

In the BFSI sector women have raised their flag high…let it wave there always. In the words of the poetess, Sylvia Path,

‘I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart… I am, I am, I am…

Editors View is a weekly column written by Amol Dethe, Editor, ETBFSI. Click here to read his previous columns.