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Omodele Adigun
As the world came together last week to celebrate the International Women’s Day (IWD), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been at the forefront of providing innovative ways of advancing gender equality and women empowerment before the selected theme for this year’s event, “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”, was even penned.
It is, therefore, hardly surprising when the apex bank tinkered with the theme, domesticated and rebranded it as “Investing for Equality”.
This, according to the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, would give the bank wiggle room “to strengthen our commitment to empowering women, which is of economic and social imperative.”
However, he lamented that despite overwhelming evidence that gender equality is a driver for economic growth and a prerequisite for achieving the 2030 global development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress in gender parity has been slow.
Literature search has thrown up many research findings to drive home the significance of gender equality in economic development.
For instance, a 2018 study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed that greater inclusion of women as users, providers and regulators of financial services have benefits beyond addressing gender inequality. Narrowing the gender gap would foster greater stability in the banking system and enhance economic growth. It could also contribute to more effective monetary and fiscal policy. The study also found that the gender gap in leadership does make a difference when it comes to bank stability. Banks with higher proportion of women board members had higher capital buffers, a lower ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs), and greater resistance to stress.
Similarly, Lagarde (2019) said, adding one more woman in a firm’s senior management or corporate board, while keeping the size of the board unchanged, is associated with an 8–13 basis point higher return on assets. If banks and financial supervisors increased the share of women in senior positions, the banking sector would be more stable too.
To cap it all, McKinsey (2017) showed that if women’s economic participation were at the same level as men, $28 trillion could be added to the world’s economic growth by 2025
All these are the reasons investing for equality is paramount in the CBN’s scheme of things.To this end, to show the efforts made so far by CBN at promoting gender parity and conducive workplace for the womenfolk, Emefiele said: “Actions taken by the bank to advance equality in the workplace include training and skills development, increased employment and leadership positions for women, diversity and inclusion initiatives, supporting female employees to balance work and family life (through child care support, extended maternity leave, etc.), coaching and mentoring programme to increase knowledge and skills that are necessary for achieving our organisational goals and objectives.
“These efforts have led to the remarkable progress made in closing the gender gap in the bank. It is heartening that today, women represent 29 per cent of CBN staff and 29 per cent of Directors are women, eight departmental directors and one Director General of West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ) as against 26 per cent of staff and 25 per cent of directors in 2014. Similarly, three out of 11 board members are women (27 per cent).
“You will agree with me that women make enormous contributions to economic growth either as business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers or employees of businesses. Despite this, women entrepreneurs face numerous challenges to financing, owning, and growing a business.
“It is in recognition of these overwhelming challenges that CBN has developed various gender-responsive interventions that prioritise investments for women, thereby improving access to diverse sources of finances, such as the MSME Fund (60 per cent of which is earmarked for women-owned businesses), the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSSAL) and the National Collateral Registry to mention but few.
“I would like to reiterate the bank’s commitment to build on the achievements made so far, in order to advance women economic empowerment and gender equality. Although I recognise the efforts that have resulted in this remarkable progress, I want to remind us that there is still more to be done and I am confident that management will continue to expand the frontiers of gender programme.
“Finally, I would like to remind us of the statement of UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in 2018 that ‘gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time and the greatest human rights challenge in our world’. This is indeed a call to action and as we celebrate the achievements and contributions of CBN women today, I would like to reaffirm our commitment to finishing this business.”
