For every eight only one woman in payroll in financial sector: CFA study

Gender representation in the finance and finance-related sectors remains at an abysmal rate according to the data collected from a sample study of 134 companies by the CFA institute. The study shows that for every eight people on the payroll there is only one woman, Business Standard reported.

According to the study, women represented 21.7 per cent of employees and 15.9 per cent of top management positions showing that women’s progress and participation in the financial sector are considerably low.

The not-for-profit organisation of investment professionals accumulated and assessed the data based on the disclosure published by 134 listed firms in their Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) for 2021-22 (FY22).

The BRSR disclosure is a set of sustainability disclosures mandated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in 2021. The market regulator has asked the companies to produce reports such as workforce composition, pay, attrition, and various other factors divided on the basis of gender. The disclosure is mandatory for the top 1,000 companies from 2022-23.

In the study titled Mind the Gender Gap by CFA Institute, in the financial year 2022, the average ratio of median remuneration of women to men was 0.97 indicating gender pay parity. Meanwhile, the remuneration ratio of women to men drops to 0.52 for top management personnel and to 0.64 for directors.

Sebi has tried addressing the huge gap by making it mandatory for companies to have at least one woman independent director on their board. But many public sector undertakings (PSUs) have not followed the rules.

Sebi has proposed an environmental, social, and governance rating framework focusing on gender diversity.

Rajendra Kalur, chairperson, CFA Society India said that women in India face various sociological barriers in addition to other constraints, and measuring gender-related parameters in a workplace is a good beginning for understanding the issues.