Matter of POLICY

Breaking the so-called perceptions and global trends, India not only has a woman Finance Minister but a crop of female officials leading economic policymaking

- SURABHI

FOR GENERATIONS, it has been difficult for women to break the so-called glass ceiling in finance. It's been rarer still to spot a woman in economic governance. Even now, across the world, only a few countries have women finance ministers and central bank governors.

Globally, women head the finance ministry in only a handful of countries, including Australia, Japan and the UK. The President of the European Central Bank is Christine Lagarde, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is led by Kristalina Georgieva as its Managing Director. Gita Gopinath was associated with the IMF till recently, first as its Chief Economist and later as the First Deputy Managing Director. She has now moved back to academia.

Over the past few years, India, too, has seen a wave of change. The country's finance minister is a woman, so are some of the top policymakers in the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The crop of women at the top in economic wings of the government is a welcome change. Though the public sector has pay parity between men and women, and equal metrics for promotion, women say they are often relegated to "softer sectors" such as social welfare, while core economic ministries remain the preserve of their male colleagues. "There is always a boys' club at play. In public facing roles or in postings such as district collectors, even local stakeholders often say they are more comfortable dealing with male officials," recalls a senior bureaucrat.