Bank of England highlight Women at the Bank

Bank of England marked International Women’s Day in a number of ways, including a celebratory event hosted by Sam Woods with a panel discussion led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money.

The Women in the Bank Network, set up to increase awareness of issues and support women throughout their progression within the Bank, celebrates its ten year anniversary this year. In an infographic, the Bank have highlighted the contribution women have made over the years and how they aim to continue to improve the representation of women in the Bank, following on from the Governor’s recent speech on inclusion.

In the Governor’s speech, he outlined how the Bank is improving their diversity and inclusion and what these terms mean for the Bank. He talked about two types of diversity: who we are (identity diversity, such as gender or ethnicity) and how we think (cognitive diversity) and how the Bank is taking steps to become inclusive of these differences. He also shared what inclusion means for the Bank: making sure everyone can take part, is able to speak up and have their voices heard. Read more about the Bank’s Governor’s speech.

It was 1894 when Bank of England first employed women under the management of Janet Hogarth: the first female superintendent. World War 1 had a huge effect on the number of women in the bank with numbers increasing from 66 at the onset of war to 2463 female clerks at the end.

Currently, 44% of the Bank’s staff are women and there are 132 mentoring pairs as part of their Women’s Mentoring Scheme, which has been running for the last three years.

The Bank aims to increase the number of women in its senior management team to 35% by 2020, up from 30% achieved in 2017. Plus, from 2014 to 2016, the number of female experienced hires has increased from 40% to 46% highlighting the Bank’s progress in recruitment.

Infographic showcasing how Bank of England is encouraging female employees

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