KARACHI: Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmad has said that the role and contributions of our women in nation-building and economic development of the country is much important.
“Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah rightly said, “no nation can rise to the height of glory unless women are side by side with you”, said SBP Governor in his message issued here on Thursday on National Working Women’s Day.
Recognizing their important role, SBP has taken a number of steps towards the financial inclusion of women. Foremost, SBP’s “Banking on Equality” initiative envisions greater engagement of women in the financial sector – through increased employment in financial institutions as well as enhanced access to financial services.
Setting a positive example of promoting employment of women in the banking and financial sectors, SBP has recently hired the 1st batch of female officers under its “Emerging Women Leaders Initiative” (EWLI).
This women batch hiring is in addition to their recruitment through SBP’s routine hiring processes, such as under the State Bank Officers Training (SBOTS) Scheme.
With the induction of female offices under EWLI, the ratio of female officers to total employees in SBP increases from 12% to approximately 17% SBP considers it is imperative to support the career progression of the women employees and encourage them to aim for a leadership position with the hope that in the coming years women in a leadership position should become the norm, not the exception.
In this context, a number of specialized training programs are available for women employees to develop the necessary skill set and competencies that are required for leadership positions.
