Although Bangladesh has made remarkable improvement in global gender-gap index, the gap between male and female workforces in the banking sector keeps widening.
Apart from posting-related hassle, the merger of five shariah-based banks, which account for a good portion of female bank executives, and liquidity crisis in several others large banks led to jobs cut contributing to the fall in the ratio of women participation in the banking industry in recent times, according to the bankers.
New branches have recently opened, mainly in semi-urban and rural areas. Family responsibilities and childcare may have discouraged women from taking these posts, since most of their families live in cities.
According to the central bank statistics, the ratio of female participation in banking stood at 16.51 per cent with 35,971 female bankers by the end of June last from 16.78 per cent recorded a year ago when the number of women bankers was 35,782.Bangladesh economic report
Until December 2024, there were 37,649 female bankers in the sector and their ratio was 17.57 per cent, according to the data.
Of the total female bank employees until June last, some 65.40 per cent are in the private scheduled banks followed by 26.33 per cent in state-owned banks, 5.69 per cent in specialised commercial banks and 2.59 per cent in foreign commercial banks.
Managing Director of Shahjalal Islami Bank Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said the recruitment process in most of the commercial banks remained almost suspended due to ongoing sluggish business.
Simultaneously, there are some large banks facing severe liquidity stress because of non-performing loans (MPLs) buildup that prompted the management of those lenders to go for job-cutting as part of their moves to lower higher operating costs.
At the same time, the seasoned banker said ongoing merger of five Islamic banks where a good pool of female bankers were working also contributing to the fall of the female participation ratio.
Seeking anonymity, managing director of a private commercial bank said a good number of female employees are being hired through references particularly from board members of a bank. But the prolonged economic slowdown is badly impacting incomes of the bank, which laterally shut the hiring windows.
Shanaj Parven, a senior executive of EXIM Bank, now under Sammilito Islami Bank, said the industry has been expanding mainly in rural areas in recent years but most female officials prefer to stay in urban centres, especially Dhaka, for family and personal reasons.City & Local Guides
As a result of outside Dhaka's concentration, she said the demand for human resources is shifting to rural areas, but women are often reluctant to take up these roles. In fact, majority of the total female workforce in banking is now concentrated in Dhaka.
Shanaj Parven heads portfolios of branding & corporate affairs, marketing & development and financial inclusion.
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, Bangladesh ranked 24th among 148 countries, a remarkable improvement from 99th in 2024. The report reflects significant progress in political representation, economic participation, and social inclusion.
