Subject I

The Missing Women in Finance

Aug 13 - Women comprise a very small proportion of the financial industry workforce,
and this has implications on the way female clients use and benefit from financial services.
Worse, the gender gap in these inactive accounts is notable: 54 percent of women account
holders report not using their account, as opposed to 43 percent male account holders. A study
we at SEWA commissioned as part of the World Bank's Skill India Mission Operation focuses
on the possible solutions, one of which is identifying work opportunities available for women in
India's financial sector. Women comprised only 12 percent of the total workforce and 11 percent
of the total field staff.

Second, SEWA's own studies suggest that women tend to save and borrow more when
they are served by female financial intermediaries. The potential for hiring women as such
agents is high. A report by the Helix Institute of Digital Finance on the Indian financial agent
network finds that of the 2,682 active financial agents surveyed across rural and urban locations,
only about 10 percent were women. If these levels were raised to 30 percent, then of the 3.7
million projected jobs, 1.1 million could be taken up by women financial intermediaries,
benefitting women account holders in the process. Women face barriers to entering the financial
workforce. Women are not aware of jobs in the financial sector. Not many girls and women think
of financial institutions as possible employers, and if they do, the government ones are the most
coveted.

A male culture in the sector also serves as a barrier, with male staff often socializing over
a drink, late after office hours; bonding events that tend to exclude women. Managers, on their
part, are reluctant to hire women. It also illuminates why managers fail to encourage women to
apply, or when they do apply, only assign women back office jobs.

These barriers call for more awareness campaigns in communities about the importance
of employment for women. Raising awareness among potential employers about the advantages
of employing women and what they need to do to attract and retain them. Providing financial
support to buy laptops, point-of-sale machines, and two-wheeler vehicles for women who wish
to become intermediaries. Examining existing training modules and re-orienting them towards
training women as financial intermediaries.

At the policy level it requires partnerships between organizations like the NSDC, the
Sector Skill Councils and the Association of Banks to create an ecosystem that works towards
employing more women as financial intermediaries. Renana Jhabvala is an economist, with a 40
year long association with the Self-Employed Women's Association, known for her writings on
informal women workers.
 http://www.globalissues.org/news/2019/08/13/25557

Subject II

1) insurance - an agreement in which you pay a company money and they pay your costs if
you have an accident, injury
2) financial statement - a report provided by a company for its shareholders and investors
that shows details of its financial situation, and includes documents such as the profit and
loss account and balance sheet
3) inactive account - a bank account that has not been used for a long period of time
4) employment - the fact of someone being paid to work for a company or organization
5) microfinance - the activity or business of providing financial services to poor people or
new businesses in poor countries
6) workforce - the group of people who work in a company, industry, country, etc
7) back office - the part of a business company that is concerned with running the company
and that does not deal directly with customers or the public
8) partnership - a company that is owned by two or more people
9) income - money that is earned from doing work or received from investments
10) empowerment - the process of gaining freedom and power to do what you want or to
control what happens to you