Essay: Factors responsible for low level of participation of women workforce in PSBs.

BACKGROUND:
In a recent statement given by the CEO of Niti Ayog “Indian Economy can grow at the rate of 9% to 10% if there is a gender parity in the country, and the share of women workforce is increased to 48% from the current 24 .%”
In terms of the World Bank’s 2017 India Development Report, India ranked at 120th among 131 countries on female workforce participation. A study conducted by McKinsey Global in 2015 also found that India could boost its GDP by 16-60% by 2025 if it simply enables women to participate in the economy at par with men, as the under-representation of women in the workforce is not only a social loss but also an economic loss.
Banks constitute the backbone of any economy. The existence of professional banking in India could be traced to the 500 BC. Kautilya’s Arthashastra, dating back to 400 BC contained references to creditors, lenders and lending rates. Banking was fairly varied and catered to the credit needs of the trade, commerce, agriculture as well as individuals in the economy.
The early years of independence (1947 to 1967) posed several challenges with an underdeveloped economy. The period from 1967 to 1991 was characterised by major developments, viz., social control on banks in 1967 and nationalisation of 14 banks in 1969 and six more in 1980. The nationalisation of banks was an attempt to use the scarce resources of the banking system for the purpose of planned development. The task of maintaining a large number of small accounts was not profitable for the banks as a result of which they had limited lending in the rural sector. The problem of lopsided distribution of banks and the lack of explicit articulation of the need to channel credit to certain priority sectors was sought to be achieved first by social control on banks and then by the nationalisation of banks in 1969 and 1980.
From the above, it can be seen that Banking Sector in India has evolved and has witnessed transformation from social control to financial inclusion. Despite the evolution, the participation of women workforce is abysmal in Banking Sector. The Public sector Banks have a total staff strength of about 8, 57,868. Out of that the number of women employees are about 1, 96,374, constituting 24% of the total workforce as on 30.09.2014. Among them 72,625 women employees are officers, 1, 02,354 are clerks and 20,475 women work at the level of sub-staff. Among the women workforce of PSBs, 33,751 (17.19%) and 12,876 (6.56%) are from SC and ST categories.
There are 138 women employees at Top Executive grade and 1719 in Senior Management Grade as on 30.09.14 in PSBs. The PSBs have been encouraging women officers to take up managerial responsibilities at branch level. Around 6,111 branches are being headed by women officers throughout the country in all Public Sector Banks .
The above stated figures forces one to question and find out the reasons for such a low level of participation of women in the Public Sector Banking (“PSB”). In order to find out the possible causes for such a low level participation of women in the PSBs the present research is being done. The scope of this research is restricted to the study of present legislative provisions focusing the welfare measure for women.
OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
The Scope of this report is to trace and list out the factors responsible for the low level of participation of women workforce in PSBs.
The Report is divided into six parts:
I. Hypothesis
II. Challenges faced by female employees in PSBs
III. Existing Legislative framework for Welfare and Empowerment of Female employees in PSBs.
IV. Research Methodology
V. Conclusion
VI. Acknowledgement
PART I
Hypothesis
Low level of female employee participation in PSBs is attributable to the absence of adequate legislation regulating the conducive working environment of female employees in public sector bank.
PART II
Challenges Faced by the Female Employees in PSBs
In any Public Sector Bank, an employee (including a female employee) is categorized as sub staff, clerk, Officer or an Executive. The service conditions of the employees are governed by the Shastry Awards as modified by the subsequent Bipartite Settlements. Further Officer Service Regulations govern the code of conduct and service conditions of the officers.
By and large the challenges faced by female employees in PSBs can be categorized into following:
a. No mechanism to deal with the bad and unruly behavior of the customers: As per the prevalent legislative framework, in case of a complaint in banking services, a customer can seek remedies under the Consumer Protect Act 1986 or also seek redressal under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006. However, in case of misbehavior or sexual harassment by a customer of bank, in order to institute legal proceedings against “customer” of bank, a female employee needs permission from the management. In the present banking scenario, where there is cut throat competition to acquire new business and retains its’customers, it is easily conceivable, how difficult it is to get such a permission from management of any PSB. Thus, although there is Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 to redress the issue of sexual harassment at workplace, there is no legislation in force except the provisions of Indian Penal Code to redress or curb the practice of harassment of female employee of PSB by the customer of the PSB.
b. Working Hours: On paper the working hours for the PSBs are 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. However, in practice, in case of Bank Officers there is no duration and typically a Bank Officer works for 9 to 10 hours a day. It is noteworthy that the extended working hours are not to be compensated by any monetary benefit or recognition. The expectation from a banker is also to participate in Road Shows, Recovery Camps, Lok Adalats, Business Campaigns etc besides the routine work to be done. Due to the mounting Non Performing Assets, slowdown in economy, it is a regular practice to visit the borrowers for recovery, scouting business even on Saturday or Sundays in order to meet the mandatory targets. Late coming next day in Banks is encountered by the angry customers/ superiors at workplace. This coupled with the present socio-psychological scenario in India, it is expected out of any female (mother/wife/sister) to do the household work, cook, participate in the up-keeping of the house, send the children to school and take care of the elderly. These are the basic minimum expectations from a female in the Indian society. Thus it becomes very difficult in absence of strict adherence to working hours for a female employee to have work life balance.
c. Holidays: Bank Holidays are not uniform across the States. Holidays in Bank are covered under the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881. Reserve Bank of India advises the banks to conduct 2 or 3 times inter-bank clearing on the last working day of the year to transact government business. As a result the annual closing often work starts after 7 P.M. on the last working day and the day ends by 10-00 or 11 P.M. As aforementioned the next day working has to be done as scheduled. Also after the quarter ending the work of quarterly annual audit is to be commenced. Thus strict adherence to working hours is needed.
d. Leave benefit and actual implementation: Bank employee cannot avail casual leave for half a day unlike their counterparts in the government departments. Even sanctioned leave can be cancelled in the case of exigency. During the demonetization, the Banker typically worked ten to twelve hours a day. Although leave implementation across all sectors is by and large the same, in case of PSBs, the same becomes important owing to the vigilance angle.
e. Sabbatical Leave: As a welfare measure sabbatical leave is available to the female employees in PSBs. However, the same cannot be claimed as a right and is often upon the discretion of the management. Also the leave duration is generally without pay and other benefits available as employee. Due to this, it becomes a rarely opted recourse. Out of the total female workforce in PSB of 1, 96,374, only 556 women employees availed of sabbatical leave in the year 2013-14 and 545 in 2014-15 . The figures clearly highlight how effective the implementation of sabbatical leave is done in case of PSBs.
f. Hygiene and Health: Most of the Bank branches have a poor infrastructure and the seating arrangements, the rest rooms are not up-to the mark. Only the bare minimum obligatory provisions of the Shops and Establishments Act 1958 are followed. The late sittings and exposure to the poor sanitation conditions to female employees poses them to various health hazards.
g. Stress: Stress is one of most operative silent killer in present day Bank working. Stress is associated with one or more of the following aspect like long working hour pattern, shifts, work overload, technological change, and poor work relationship, inappropriate leadership styles, higher expectation etc. Long working hour are directly associated with health outcomes and hence effect the performance and potential of the employees. Some evidence proved that among women who work for long working hours are likely to develop depression as compared to their colleagues working standard hours (Shields (2000). In addition to the sexual harassment aspect at the job, there are various factors which may cause stress or tension among women employees in PSBs such as working conditions regarding shifts, work overload, technological changes, poor working relationship, high demand for performance, lack of social support, lack of participation in decision making process, inappropriate leadership style, role ambiguity, etc. For example, the expansion in technology for performing e-banking in PSBs has insulted in higher expectations for productivity, speed and efficiency, thereby increasing pressure on the individual employee to constantly work at peak performance levels. Women employees working with computers for long hours are under constant pressure and stress. There is also continued thrust to keep up with latest technological changes and updates, forcing employees to learn new software all the times .
h. Harassment: In order to deal with the Harassment at workplace, the conduct rules of PSBs provide that no employee shall indulge in any act of sexual harassment of any woman at work place and every officer shall take appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment to any woman at such work places. Sexual harassment are generally received regarding sexually colored remarks, other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature etc. and the complaints received are looked into by the policy of concerned bank. It also provides that every officer, who is in charge of a work place, shall take appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment to any woman employee at such work places. 168 complaints of cases involving sexual harassment were received in the last three years(2010-2014), of which 145 cases were disposed .The figures suggest how low level of the complaints are first reported and how few of them are resolved. Thus although the Act has attempted to redress the concerns faced by working women, suitable amendments are required to achieve its objectives. For example, in the quarterly reporting format, it should be made mandatory to include number of female employees dropped at their home after working hours.
i. Transfer Policy: The transfer of clerical and sub-ordinate staff is governed by the provisions of bipartite settlements from time to time and that the transfer of officers is done as per the Regulation 47 of the officers’ service regulations, inter alia, formulating a transfer policy with the approval of the board of the concerned bank, keeping in view the administrative constraints, business development of the bank and specific requirement/availability of the vacancies. There are 138 women employees at Top Executive Grades and 1719 in Senior Management levels as on 30.09.2014 in the Public Sector Banks. The Ministry of Finance, in this regard has also informed that around 6,111 branches are being headed by women officers throughout the country in all Public Sector Banks and underscored that these Banks have been encouraging women officers to take up managerial responsibilities at branch level. The Committee on Empowerment in its Report on working conditions of women in PSBs have found time and again that transfer of women employees on promotion to distant places have always been an obstacle in the way of career progression for them and this may be the single most contributing factor as to why women represented in higher grades are in far less numbers than expected .
Even the hardship caused due to periodic transfers of female employees was recognized by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance and Government of India. The said Department had also issued circular no F. No. 4/9/1/2014-IR dated 08.08.2014, wherein the PSBs were advised to frame policy on the subject of Transfer of female employees in PSBs with a view to minimize the hardships caused to them. In the said advisory it was also decided to accommodate as far as possible the transfer of married/unmarried female employee at a place where her husband/parents are stationed or as near as possible to that place. However, an unbiased and impartial compliance of the same is again dependent on the wisdom of the management. In order to understand the unavoidable need of transfer we may refer to the advisory issued by the Central Vigilance Commission time to time. As per the latest Advisory no 18/MISC/02-392171 dated 23/08/2018 issued, the PSBs were advised to effect the rotational transfer of officers continuing beyond 3 years for officers holding sensitive posts. Therefore, the PSBs have to maintain a delicate balance between the welfare of female employee in their transfer posting and also ensuring the compliance of Vigilance directives. Here in the absence of other definite support systems like crèche facilities, strict adherence to working hours, sabbatical leave facility, a female employee is often faced with the dilemma of continuing her job or opting for resignation. This becomes more problematic in case of female employees opting for promotions. Therefore, it can be said that strict compliance for rotation transfer coupled with lack of other welfare measures mandated by legislative mandate aggravates the situation and acts as a deterrent for continuing the job and opting for promotions.
j. Crèche and Day-Care Facilities: The PSBs are not maintaining crèche facilities for the female employees. The Committee on Empowerment in its Report on working conditions of women in PSBs was unhappy to note that only two Public Sector Banks, namely, the State Bank of Mysore and the State Bank of Patiala (as on the date of Fourth Report August 1, 2015) are providing Crèche and Day-care facilities for infants and babies of women employees. The Committee was of the view that these facilities should be provided by other Banks as well, especially in those Branches where women employees work in large numbers. Unlike the mandatory provisions for crèche under the Section 48 of Factories Act, 1948, there is no statutory or regulatory requirement for the PSBs to offer crèche facility to its female employees as a rule.
PART III
Existing Legislative framework for Welfare and Empowerment of Female employees in PSBs
a. Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
The banks are following the procedure as laid down in the Act and publicizing the policy on sexual harassment at work place as under:
i. Displaying the names of the members of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and their contact details and the penal consequences of sexual harassment in the notice board at branches/work place.
ii. Policy and operational guidelines are also displayed on the Bank’s website.
iii. By issuing e-circulars for information of all employees.
iv. Conducting workshop/training programmes at regular intervals for sensitizing the staff members for prevention and dealing with the incidents of sexual harassment of women at work place
b. Maternity Benefit Act 1961: The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 has increased the duration of paid maternity leave available for women employees to 26 weeks from 12 weeks. The paid maternity leave can be availed 8 weeks before the expected date of delivery. Before the amendment, it was 6 weeks.
PART IV
Research Methodology
The data has been collected from the different studies conducted on the topic listed in the references, based on the personal interviews conducted with female employees working in PSBs and also from the information received from RTI Act. (Updated information awaited under different applications)
PART V
Conclusions
From the above discussion it can be clearly concluded that a lot needs to be done for welfare of female employees in PSBs. In absence of any statutory obligation, it is very unlikely that the present day condition will change.
The need of the hour is to cast a positive duty on the employer to have considerate view in case of transfer of female employee; reasons to be specified with compensation for posting her away from the home town; provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act 1961 as amended to be implemented strictly; Crèche facility should be provided as a rule; Statutory obligation on employer should be cast for the allowing the sabbatical leave or citing reasons for not allowing the sabbatical leave. The disqualification of an application for sabbatical leave should be on the ground supported by legislative mandate. This will ensure that the denial of facility is informed and reasoned. It needs to be highlighted here that although there is a need to have a legislative mandate for sabbatical leave, the same has to also be balanced by adequate number of employees in PSBs. Fresh recruitment has become difficult at present owing to the fact that the majority of the PSBs are under the prompt corrective actions plan mandated by the RBI; female employees to have a mechanism of reporting the harassment of the sexual nature by the customers as well; Flexi time working (already prevalent in private sector) to be introduced in the PSBs for female employees.
It is submitted, if the female workforce in PSBs has to improve at all levels of the hierarchy, there is a need for legislative measures addressing the above concerns and strict implementations for the same.
PART VI
Acknowledgment
The undersigned is grateful to Dr. Kanwal D.P. Singh, Professor and Dean, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University for her valuable inputs and guidance in writing this Report.