New leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Papua New Guinea have increased the proportion of central banks with female leaders to 16 percent, according to a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Women are leading more central banks than ever before, thanks to appointments around the world last year, but recent gains still leave the proportion of female leaders far below parity.
The number of female governors rose from 23 last year to 29 this year. But that left the proportion of female governors at just 16 percent of the world’s 185 central banks, according to a report published in April by the Forum on Official Monetary and Financial Institutions.
According to IMF research, greater gender stability at the top level can contribute to increased economic and financial stability and improved performance by helping to increase diversity of ideas and systems of stability and oversight.
The appointments this year in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Papua New Guinea exemplify how smaller economies are making greater progress on gender parity, according to OMFIF, a London-based think tank on money, economics and investment.
While this year’s increase is the biggest in surveys in more than a decade, the chart shows that central banks still have plenty of room to make progress toward greater equality among the top policymakers who shape the global economy.
This picture adds to the evidence that, despite steady gains, women are not adequately represented in central banks and the economy.
A first-of-its-kind survey of the European Central Bank and its Group of Seven counterparts last year by the IMF found that less than half of those working in these institutions were women, but on average only a third were economists or managers, underscoring that policies to eliminate gender inequality have only been partially successful.
ECB Executive Board Member Isabel Schnabel has said that there is a significant gender imbalance in economics and that the institution is committed to changing this among its staff. Schnabel said in a 2020 speech that the obstacles are not insurmountable and that mentoring opportunities and the provision of childcare can help reduce gender imbalances.
The latest additions to the list of countries appointing a woman as central bank governor came in January in Bosnia and Herzegovina, when Jasmina Selimović began a six-year term and Elizabeth Genia was appointed to the top post after serving as acting leader. Last year, Michele Bullock became the first woman to lead the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Cambodia, Georgia, Moldova and Montenegro also appointed women to their monetary authorities last year, according to OMFIF’s 2024 gender stability index.
Hibya News Agency
