Hanoi (VNS/VNS) - While women make up 60% of the entry level workforcein Vietnam’s banks, less than a third make it to senior and top managementpositions, according to a new study by IFC in partnership with the State Bankof Vietnam (SBV).

The study "Mind the gap: Getting more women into leadership in Vietnam’sbanking sector" shows there was strong recognition of the value of genderequality in the banking sector, especially how gender diversity in seniorpositions could help banks attract and retain skill while expanding a robustbase of female management talent, boosting workforce productivity and financialperformance.

However, many banks did not know how to make the effort to create a more genderequal workforce and leadership team. Women reported less access to all forms oftraining and career development opportunities, with strong evidence they alsofaced overt and unconscious bias over childbearing and childcareresponsibilities.

“Promoting gender equality and women’s representation in leadership positionsis important to the State Bank of Vietnam. This report, resulting from theclose cooperation between the SBV and IFC, provides a snapshot of where womenand men are in the banking sector, the challenges that women face and introducesideas and recommendations to have more women in leadership and managementpositions,” the Vietnamese central bank confirmed.

The study also showed that while 80% of people felt safe at work, nearly one infive had witnessed bullying and one in ten had personally experienced bullyingbehavior, with similar responses among men and women. Based on surveys ofnearly 40,000 employees from banks as well as sit-down interviews with seniorand middle bank managers, the study also showed women wanted better support forwork-life balance. 

“Lack of gender diversity in leadership in the banking sector is a persistentproblem globally,” said Thomas Jacobs, IFC Country Manager for Vietnam,Cambodia and Laos.

“While Vietnam is doing better than some other countries in terms of women inbank management, this report clearly shows more should be done to turncommitments into practical steps, enabling women to move into leadershippositions. We know that gender balanced leadership leads to better financial returnsand other benefits for employees, investors and business.”

As a first step and in a bid to help tackle the gender gap in banking,supported by the SBV, IFC is setting up a special initiative for Vietnamesebanking institutions to learn from successful global practices, with a focus ontalent development, succession planning, and creating more flexible andinclusive workplaces./.