Gender gap in finance, business may take a century to narrow

Underrepresentation of women in leadership and key sectors hinder inclusive development

- MUSHTAK PARKER

AS CAPE Town prepares to host more than 100 prominent gender parity activists from diverse backgrounds from all over the world for the Women20 South Africa (W20SA) inception meeting to be held at the Lagoon Beach Hotel from 21 to 22 May, the stark reality is that women continue to face serious barriers to gender balance in key economic sectors such as finance, industry and the corporate world.

Any gains and progress made towards gender parity in the workplace thus far has been fragmented, disjointed, lethargic and always at the dictate of men, who are by far the predominant decisionmakers relating to gender responsive, balance and equity policies.

As if men fail to realise that gender equality is smart economics, and is essential for development, increasing aggregate productivity, and for the dignity of women in the workplace and in society.

Whatever smidgeon of progress and hope towards diversity and inclusion suffered a serious setback on January 20, when President Donald Trump unleashed one of his first executive orders implicitly "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing" in the US public sector.

The new playbook was to the point: "Federal employment practices shall not under any circumstances consider DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements."

It is against such a bleak global backdrop that the annual Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum's (OMFIF) Gender Balance Index (GBI) 2025 released in April calls out 'a critical moment for women in finance' and warns about 'progress on the precipice.

The Gender Balance Index (GBI) now in its 12th year has evolved into the authoritative global source on leadership in central banking, and across 300 financial institutions across commercial banks, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and public pension funds.