LBS seeks gender parity in financial services sector

THE Lagos Business School ( LBS) has begun a ' Co Impact' project that aims to foster gender equality in Nigeria's financial services sector.

The institution also called for gender parity in the nation's financial sector to improve inclusion and contribution of women to national development.

Project's Co- Lead for the institution, Yetunde Anibaba, made the call, at the weekend, during an event to mark this year's International Women's Day.

According to Anibaba, the institution recently secured a $ 300,000 grant from a global philanthropic collaborative focused on improving the lives of millions of people through just and inclusive systems- change.

The design phase grant is to provide the space, resources and expertise necessary for a partner to create a plan designed to help the grantee ( LBS) achieve its systems- change objectives.

She said the LBS is embarking on the project as its own research showed that women occupy 20 per cent of the executive management positions in the financial services sector despite making up 45 per cent of the total workforce.

Anibaba further said that this systemic inequality had continued to persist due to deeply rooted social norms and implicit biases, as well as structures and processes that preclude inclusiveness in organisations.

She said: "In a recent study on 30 most capitalised companies in Nigeria done by the IFF, they found that about 33 per cent of the workforce are women and only 27 per cent hold senior management positions in these organisations.”