Women wear many hats in banks. They are now chairpersons, managing directors, executive directors, and general managers also.

Another major part of Indian banking system is the trade unions. Though there are quite a few women leaders at regional level, they are yet to reach top positions in many bank unions.

Considering the need for developing women leadership in unions, the Mangalore-based Corporation Bank Officers’ Organisation (CBOO) started a separate women’s wing way back in 1985.

T.R. Bhat, former CBOO president, says that CBOO, along with All-India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), conducted a state-level workshop on ‘women in banking’ in 1995-96. Around 100 women from various banks in Karnataka attended that workshop.

It discussed various issues related to problems in banks, and also suggested several recommendations.

Following this, the bank opened a separate room for pregnant women at the head office of Corporation Bank in Mangalore in 1995-96, and began pre-natal medical check-up. Bhat says that no other banks in the country had such a facility till then.

The workshop also led to the establishment of a national women’s wing in AIBOC in 1996.

Apart from women’s issues, the workshop focused on men also. According to Bhat, the 1995 workshop demanded granting of paternity leave to male staff members.

Bhat adds that he has seen women activism in trade union and at the level of executives in Corporation Bank. Now gradually women are coming forward in unions. Two zonal units of CBOO in Kerala and one in Bangalore are headed by women now.

vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in

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