Britons Push for More Women in Banking - Building Gender Balanced Business

• As Britain — and the rest of Europe, indeed the world — agonizes over the implosion of the financial services industry, the official castigation of the all-male lions of banking is being done by the largely all-male lions of politics.

• The irony is not lost on Britons, even among the political class. And the obvious solution to the excesses that caused the crisis is ever more popular.

• Hazel Blears, one of two female members of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s cabinet, put it bluntly: “Maybe if we had some more women in the boardrooms, we may not have seen as much risk-taking behavior.”

• Howard Archer, chief European and U.K. economist at IHS Global Insight in London, echoed her, saying, “Clearly, something needs to change. You can argue that the men have made a right mess of it, and now the ladies should have a go.”

• Women make up 12% of corporate directorships of companies on the FTSE 100 stock exchange index, and far far fewer in banking.

• “It’s an old boys’ network,” said Sally Keeble, the only woman among British legislators interrogating British bankers recently. She added, “It’s a closed culture that needs to be opened up.”

• But some warn that too much of a swing could result in exactly the opposite problem. Michel Ferrary, a professor at the French business school Ceram, said gender balance is the solution, explaining, “Maybe if you have only women in a company, they won’t take enough risk.”

The Washington Post article