Speaking at the international conference "Strengthening the role of women in the banking industry before new challenges" held on October 18, Governor Hong cited the Gender Balance Index 2023 Report for 186 central banks in the world as saying that the gender equality index increased from 31 points in 2022 to 33 points in 2023.

The proportion of female leaders at central banks around the world also increased with 30% of key officials being women, 27% of deputy governors being women, and 11.8% of governors being women.

According to statistics, there are currently 320,000 people working in the banking industry in Vietnam, including 190,000 women, accounting for 59%. Particularly in the State Bank of Vietnam’s system, there are 3,578 women out of 6,351 employees, accounting for 56.3%.

100% of subsidiaries under the State Bank of Vietnam have key officials who are women. The proportions of female leaders at the departmental levels and female heads of units have increased in recent years. Gender equality goals have basically been achieved.

The Governor also said that women account for 36% and 488.6% of the total employees who are designated to be future key officials of the State Bank of Vietnam’s departments in the period of 2021 – 2026 and 2026 - 2031.

Up to 83% of female officials working at the State Bank of Vietnam and units managed by the State Bank were sent to study for doctoral degrees, and 74% were sent to study for master's degrees.

In particular, to create conditions for banks to implement credit programs for women and disadvantaged groups in society, the State Bank of Vietnam has coordinated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to implement a project to support women-run small and medium-sized enterprises.

The central bank also creates favorable conditions for the Bank for Social Policies to deploy social policy credit targeting female customer groups. The Bank for Social Policies and the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) have effectively coordinated with the Vietnam Women's Union at all levels to provide capital to women through loan groups.

Through the Bank for Social Policies, there are 61,951 loan groups managed by the Women's Union, with117,000 billion VND outstanding debt granted to 2,525 members.

Through Agribank, there are 10,175 loan groups managed by the Women's Union; 30,000 billion VND outstanding debt; 217,038 members have outstanding debt.

However, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that it seems that women in the banking industry are "losing steam" on their advancement path due to gender stereotypes and family responsibilities.

Currently, female heads of units in the SBV is only 15.6%, particularly 29% for department heads and 57% for division heads.

Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said: "Female bank officials need to promote gender characteristics suitable for the banking industry such as meticulousness, accuracy, perseverance, and caution and at the same time they need to demonstrate confidence, dynamism, initiative, and bravery to be ready to complete assigned tasks."

Tuan Nguyen