Publications
Partners
It also came amid a growing debate about whether the current financial meltdown could have been averted if more women were in charge of financial institutions.
In the UK newspaper The Times, Matthew Syed wrote that the financial sector became "too primal, too dominated by men and their baser instincts, too preoccupied with greed and too little with the consequences".
Alice Miles, in a recent column in the UK publication New Statesman, argued, "It is a design fault in a system that has been set up to reward male values and not female ones, which merits argument over consensus, money over value, destruction over nurture."
Some commentators have pointed to Lloyds TSB, who have many women in senior positions – and is one of the only global banks that emerged relatively unscathed from the crisis.
The current financial crisis was largely caused by banks pouring money into extremely risky investments. These complex products were based on home loans given to Americans who couldn't afford it and who defaulted soon afterwards. A number of banks worldwide have gone belly-up because of their exposure to these "sub-prime" loans.
Why women?
More
women, who are thought to be more risk-averse and more conservative
about money, in key financial positions could have provided a
safeguard, some say.
A senior manager at one of SA's biggest banks, who didn't want to be named, agrees. "Women are definitely less inclined to take huge risks. The last couple of years have seen a big increase in the number of women employed at SA banks, specifically in areas of compliance and risk management."
It's a cliché, but women usually take a lot of ego out of the equation, she says. "They also seem to want their jobs to mean something – as opposed to some men who only chase the money."
What do the statistics say?
Worldwide,
women generally have better credit records than men and they make more
reliable borrowers. Some banks in the developing world only target
women because of their collective track record.
They may even make better investors. A survey by a UK investment website last year, that studied more than 100 000 portfolios over the course of a year, found that women achieved a much higher rate of return. Another study showed that women took 40% more time researching investments.
To be fair
Being a woman doesn't necessarily make you a cautious financial saint,
however, as anyone with an already overburdened credit card at a shoe
sale can attest to.
And not all women are ace investors. The high-profile former chief forecaster of Goldman Sachs, Abby Joseph Cohen, not only failed to predict any of the last decade's market crashes, but kept on making bullish noises amid the carnage.
Back home
But women are cheaper. There still is a big gap between the genders in the SA financial sector.
Financial institutions will become safer places only once a critical mass of women has been appointed in key positions, says the senior manager. Having a token female won't change the culture.
Ramos, credited with turning an ailing Transnet around, is certainly no token appointment. And her success at Absa could pave the way to a welcome trend of more women in top financial positions.
Do you agree? Do you think South Africa should close the gap between the genders in the financial sector?
