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Top ECB official calls for more women central bankers
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Nov 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The European Central Bank
should bring more women into leadership jobs to improve gender balance, the
only female member of the powerful institution’s board told told AFP.
“I’m convinced that diversity in management positions is an intelligent
idea to pursue,” Sabine Lautenschlaeger said.
Lautenschlaeger’s appeal follows the ECB’s early November vote in favour
of a male candidate, Italy’s Andrea Enria, to succeed banking supervision
chief Daniele Nouy from next year.
Enria, presently head of the European Banking Authority (EBA) — which
crafts the banking regulations supervisors enforce — was chosen over
Irishwoman Sharon Donnery, and was last week confirmed in the new job by the
European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee (ECON).
But several European sources told AFP they were “shocked” when during the
selection process ECON chair Roberto Gualtieri wrote a letter to the ECB
praising Enria’s wealth of experience — while appearing to suggest the fact
Donnery is a woman was her main qualification.
As for Lautenschlaeger, she will in February leave her job as vice-
president of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) — the ECB’s banking
supervision arm — in favour of one of the men on the board.
“I hope our ratio of women in central banking, as well as in banking
supervision, will increase,” the German central banker told AFP.
The ECB pledged early this year to step up efforts to hire more female
staff.
It was still short of its stated goal of one in four high-level management
posts held by women, with the figure at just 17 percent at the end of 2017.
BSS/AFP/HR/1130