LightCastle contributes to IFC's report on gender disparity

LightCastle Celebrates the Launch of IFC’s Report on Women’s Advancement in the South Asian Banking Sector

Despite a slight rise, women’s participation in Bangladesh’s banking sector remains low (16.32%) compared to the rest of South Asia, where 25.6% of the workforce is female. Complex hiring practices and lack of senior management support, among other factors, hinder the advancement of women and achieve gender equity in the sector.

In order to understand these challenges better and identify solutions to bridge the gender gap and promote women’s careers in banking across four South Asian countries — Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka — the International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched a study across South Asia involving a consortium that included LightCastle Partners, Dalberg Global Development Advisors, International Development Institute (IDI), and Convergent View Research & Consultancy Pvt Ltd.

As a key member of the consortium behind this research project, LightCastle, in addition to providing the country-level assessment for Bangladesh, employed benchmarking and best practice case studies to assess gender disparity in the Bangladesh banking sector. This helped to identify successful policies and ensured that recommendations were firmly grounded to provide a holistic overview of women’s participation in the banking sector of Bangladesh.

IFC’s Report on Women’s Advancement in the South Asian Banking Sector

On 12 June 2024, the study report, titled ‘Women’s Advancement in Banking in Emerging South Asian Countries,’ was launched by the IFC in the presence of key stakeholders including but not limited to:

Imad N. Fakhoury (Regional Director, South Asia)
Martin Holtmann (Country Manager, Bangladesh)
Zareen Tasnim (Gender Program Lead, Bangladesh)
Selim R.F. Hussain (MD and CEO, BRAC Bank)
Mahia Juned (AMD, COO, and CAMLCO, City Bank)
Syed Mahbubur Rahman (MD and CEO, Mutual Trust Bank Limited)
Khairun Haque (Country Head of HR, Standard Chartered Bank)
Shahnaz Sultana (CEO, FINS Alliance)

Panel Discussion on Women’s Advancement in the South Asian Banking Sector

In addition to revealing the persistent underrepresentation of women in the banking sector of Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia, the report calls for ambitious goals and industry-wide action.

Female stakeholders of IFC at the report launch on Women’s Advancement in the South Asian Banking Sector

Recommendations include fostering inclusive workplaces, tailored professional development, fair evaluations, work-life balance, and supportive networks. These steps aim to empower key players – bank leaders, policymakers, industry bodies, and investors – to bridge the gap and propel women towards leadership roles within the banking sector of South Asia.