More women employed in banking than men   

A report by Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA) indicates that the banking sector is largely dominated by women employees, a shift which the report says has been supported by years of affirmative action programmes. 

The report, which highlights performance of the banking sector during the period ended December 2022, notes that out of the 19,362 employees in the sector about 52 percent, which translates into 9,984 are women compared to 9,378 or 48 percent, who are men.  

However, the picture changes a little with the percentage make up of women employees, starting to reduce as the level of seniority increases, according to the report. 

For instance, during 2022, the report indicates that whereas middle management was nearly split between females and males, it lowered to 34 percent at executive director level, which was far lower than the 66 percent for males.  

The percentages above indicates that at least 103 females were employed at executive director level compared to 197 males by December 2022. 

UBA, which is an umbrella association of the banking sector, has 36 financial institutions, majority of which have a significant level of women employees. 

The report, which was published early last week, also indicates that men dominate executive director level positions, of which 24 percent or 16 percent are women compared to 76 percent or 50 who are men.  

Currently, the report notes further, there are eight women occupying positions of chief executive officer or managing director out of the 36 financial institutions under the UBA membership. 

Brac, which employs 1,915 people , has the largest composition of women staff, of which 1,574 are females compared to 341 males. 

Other banks with a large composition of women staff, include Absa, which has 630 females and 306 males, Stanbic (1,015 females and 911 males) and dfcu Bank, which has 591 female staff and 558 males.

However, the dominance of women is not universally shared given that a number of financial institutions, including Centenary, Post Bank, Pride Micro Finance, Uganda Development Bank and Equity, among others, are still dominated by men. 

For instance, the report indicates, Centenary Bank, which employs 3,003 people has 1,529 male employees, which is slightly higher than 1,411 females. Post Bank has 1,115 male employs compared to 487 females, while Pride Micro Finance has 632 males compared to 361 females. 

Mr Wilbrod Owor, the UBA executive director, said yesterday that the statistics above “probably point towards the fruits from the affirmative action programmes that have been put in place over the years”. 

Further, he said, this has been enhanced by deliberate programmes such as the soon to be launched banking sector led women economic empowerment initiative that will augment  government’s policies that seek equity in employment of women.

Women in banking vs men  

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