Women have made significant progress climbing the corporate ladder at Canada's banks since the early 1990s, but the percentage in the top ranks still sharply lags their 70-per-cent makeup of the industry's work force.
Some of the banking sector's top female brass argue that there is more work to be done to get more women in key executive posts -- especially with bottom-line responsibilities -- that could lead them to the brass ring.
The makeup of women among executives at Bank of Montreal has risen to nearly 35 per cent -- the highest among the Big Five -- from 9 per cent in 1990, when it launched a task force on the advancement of women to determine barriers to their promotion.
"I think we have done very well," said Rose Patten, senior executive vice-president of human resources and head of the office of strategic management at BMO.
The ideal would be equality, or 50 per cent of women in senior management positions -- vice-president and higher -- but achieving 70 per cent is an "unrealistic" target, Ms. Patten said. "We have to recognize that not 70 per cent of that group would want to be on a career trajectory."
Ms. Patten is one of 100 women being honoured in Toronto on Wednesday at the Canada's Most Powerful Women Summit sponsored by the Women's Executive Network and the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business.
About half of the 40 women chosen in the corporate executive category come from the banking sector, indicating that the industry has been more vigorous in promoting women after seriously examining the problem of barriers to advancement.
Pamela Jeffery, founder of the Women's Executive Network and the "top 100" awards program, said that a key criterion for the corporate executive category over all is that a woman must be at a senior vice-president or higher level. However, in the banking sector, that was raised to executive vice-president or higher since many women have already reached the senior vice-president level, Ms. Jeffery said. "We had to raise the bar for the banks."
Despite progress by women in banking, they have yet to see the sector's first female chief executive officer. "We've still that ceiling to break," said Ms. Patten, who in 1999 was first woman to be appointed to BMO's executive management committee.
The top Canadian female banking executive is Barbara Stymiest, who has been on the job for a week as chief operating officer at Royal Bank of Canada. She was wooed away recently from her former post as CEO of TSX Group Inc.
BMO was among the first to move to break down perceived barriers for women in banking in the early 1990s. It instituted policies to make sure there was a decent pool of male and female candidates when recruiting, and began allowing for flexible-work hours for all employees to accommodate personal needs, Ms. Patten said.
But there are also compelling business reasons to have more women in the executive ranks, she said, citing a study done earlier this year in the United States by Catalyst Inc., a non-profit research and consulting group that works to advance women in business.
The study, which examined 353 companies on the Fortune 500 list from 1996 to 2000, indicated that companies with the highest representation of women in senior management have a 35 per cent higher return on equity, and a 34 per cent greater total return to shareholders than firms with the fewest women at the top.
Elisabetta Bigsby, senior executive vice-president of human resources and public affairs at RBC, suggested the banking sector has made more of an effort than other industries to truly understand "the business case for women."
"If society is 50-50 [men and women]and banks serve society as their clients, doesn't it make sense to have women in important jobs in the financial services sector?" Ms. Bigsby asks rhetorically. "That is the case I am making."
Women now represent 25 per cent of senior managers at RBC, which launched a task force on women in banking in the late 1970s. "I was the fourth Royal Bank woman executive . . . in 1988, and four back then was huge," Ms. Bigsby recalled.
Sylvia Chrominska, executive vice-president of human resources and public, corporate and government affairs at Bank of Nova Scotia, agreed that women have made strides in the banking world, but "they haven't come far enough."
Scotiabank, where women comprise 23 per cent of senior mangers, currently has an advisory committee for the advancement of women that tries to find ways to break down perceived barriers. Over the past year, it has held networking sessions where senior female managers are put on the hot seat, similar to guests on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
"It always has been a sellout crowd," said Ms. Chrominska, the first person to face a barrage of questions by employees. "They wanted to know things about balance, my role models, my mentors and who has helped my career, and what I did in my spare time."
Women continue to perceive a barrier in not having access to "informal clubs" that men have in playing golf or attending hockey games, Ms. Chrominska said. "Like it or not, women still have the lion's share of household responsibilities and child caring."
Jill Denham, vice-chair in charge of retail banking at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said she believes that women have come a long way in the banking world. Women at CIBC represent nearly 30 per cent of senior managers, up from just over 3 per cent in 1987.
But Ms. Denham said that she, personally, has never been aware of a glass ceiling in her climb up the banking ladder. "The toughest challenge is doing my job and being there for my family," she said. "It's a constant struggle to keep that balance."
Andrea Rosen, vice-chair in charge of retail banking at Toronto-Dominion Bank, suggested that women have made strides in banking because there are so many career opportunities through its various businesses.
Women now make up 24 per cent of senior managers at TD, which launched a task force on the advancement of women in the mid-1990s after finding few in the upper reaches of the bank.
Ms. Rosen said that there need not only to be more women in the executive ranks, but more of them in operating roles with profit-and-loss responsibility.
"It just gives more credibility to people who aspire to be CEOs to have bottom-line responsibility," Ms. Rosen said.
"I think there is still a lot of work to be done. We are not nearly at the end game."
Canada's top 100 women
The Women's Executive Network chose 100 women to honour at Canada's Most Powerful Women Summit. These are the 2004 award winners by category
CORPORATE EXECUTIVES
Deborah Alexander......Bank of Nova Scotia
Diane Bean......Manulife Financial
Elisabetta Bigsby......Royal Bank of Canada
Marylynne Campbell......SNC Lavalin Group
Cynthia Carroll......Alcan Primary Metal Group
Alberta Cefis......Bank of Nova Scotia
Sylvia Chrominska......Bank of Nova Scotia
Lisa Colnett......Celestica
Sherry Cooper......Bank of Montreal, BMO Nesbitt Burns
Patricia Curadeau-Grou......National Bank of Canada
Jill Denham......Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Gisèle Desrochers......National Bank of Canada
Bonnie DuPont......Enbridge
Debbie Edwards......Hudson's Bay Co.
Janice Fukakusa......Royal Bank of Canada
Moya Greene......Bombardier
Bryna Goldberg......Shoppers Drug Mart
Colleen Johnston.......Toronto-Dominion Bank
Alice Keung......National Bank of Canada
Marnie Kinsley......BMO Nesbitt Burns
Sue Lee......Suncor Energy
Monique Leroux......Groupe Desjardins
Karen Maidment......Bank of Montreal
Bev Margolian......Manulife Financial
Gay Mitchell......Royal Bank of Canada
Peggy Mulligan......Bank of Nova Scotia
Dina Palozzi......Bank of Montreal, BMO Nesbitt Burns
Rose Patten......Bank of Montreal
Karen Radford......Telus Communications
Sarah Raiss......TransCanada
Katherine Rethy......Noranda
Drude Rimell......EnCana
Andrea Rosen......Toronto-Dominion Bank
Kathleen Sendall......Petro-Canada
Jacqueline Sheppard......Talisman Energy
Karen Sheriff......Bell Canada
Barbara Stymiest......Royal Bank of Canada
Joyce Sumara......General Motors of Canada
Diane Walker......TD Waterhouse Group (USA)
Janet Yale......Telus Communications
ENTREPRENEURS
Rossana Di Zio Magnotta......Magnotta Winery
Arlene Dickenson .....Venture Communications
Johanne Dion......Trans-Herbe
Patricia Gibson... Install-A-Flor, Floors Plus
Janis Grantham......Eagle Professional Resources
Muriel Jasek......Information Technology Consultants
Rebecca MacDonald......Energy Savings Income Fund
Becky McKinnon......Timothy's Coffees of the World
Elaine Minacs......Minacs Worldwide
Susan Niczowski.....Summer Fresh Salads
Madelaine Paquin......Logistec
Aileen Reid......A.P. Reid Insurance Stores
Marilyn Sheftel.......Silverhill Acura
Rita Tsang......Tour East Holidays (Canada)
Cora Tsouflidou......Breakfast People of America
Sylvia Vogel......Canderm Pharm
PUBLIC SECTOR- Ministries
Maria David Evans......Alberta Learning
Brenda Eaton......Province of British Columbia
Deborah Fry......Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Jessica Hill......Ministry of Children and Youth Services
Judy Samuelson......Government of Saskatchewan
PUBLIC SECTOR - OTHER
Shirley Hoy......City of Toronto
Annitta Stenning......City of Winnipeg
Margaret Judy Rogers......City of Vancouver
Lynda Cranston......Provincial Health Services Authority
Sheila Weatherill......Capital Health
Lorna Marsden......York University
Martha Piper......University of British Columbia
TRAILBLAZERS
Rosalie Abella......Supreme Court of Canada
Kay Blair......MicroSkills
Iona Campagnolo......Government of British Columbia
Louise Fréchette......United Nations
Anne Golden......Conference Board of Canada
Wanda Kaluzny......Montreal Chamber Orchestra
Dr. Grace McCarthy......PC.H.I.L.D. Foundation
Dr. Norma Mickelson......University of Victoria
Marta Mulkins......Canadian Navy, HMCS Kingston
Barbara Palk......TD Asset Management; TD Financial Group
Dr. Roseann Runte......Old Dominion University
Lesley Southwick-Trask......STP Holdings Inc.
Emoke J.E. Szathmary ......University of Manitoba
PROFESSIONALS
Jennifer Babe......Miller Thomson LLP
Dr. Patricia Baird......University of British Columbia
Dr. Sheela Basrur......Public Health Division, Province of Ontario
Sheila Fraser......Office of the Auditor General
Dr. Julia Levy......QLT
Dr. Jean Marmoreo......Edward Street Medical Associates
Sue Matthews......Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
Louise Arbour......United Nations
Sheila Block......Torys LLP
Beverley McLachlin......Supreme Court of Canada
Anne McLellan......Ministry of Public Safety
Jayne Pilot......Pilot Performance Resources Management
Kathy Reichs......Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Laura Safran......Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP
Karen Savage......Horizon Engineering
CHAMPIONS
Dr. Rose Charlie......Province of British Columbia
Mobina Jaffer.......Government of Canada
Doreen McKenzie Sanders......Women in the Lead
Frances Wright......Famous 5 Foundation
CORRECTION
Canada's Most Powerful Women Summit, which is being held in Toronto tomorrow to honour 100 women, is co-sponsored by the Women's Executive Network and palmOne Canada. Incorrect information was published yesterday.
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