Few women in India hold CFA charter; amid social pressures, lack of parity

Country's share of women completing exam for chartered financial analyst is 13%

Few women in India hold a finance qualification regarded as the gold standard in investment management, reflecting their poor representation in vaunted workplaces.

The share of women who complete the three-stage chartered financial analyst (CFA) exam is around 13 per cent in India. It is 20 per cent globally, shows comparative data that the CFA institute shared in response to a request from Business Standard before International Women’s Day on March 8.
 

The gap narrows at lower levels of candidature. Women account for 27 per cent of CFA Level I candidates. Their representation fell six percentage points to 21 per cent by the time of the CFA Level III exams. The share of men goes up from 73 per cent to 79 per cent.
 

Around 22 per cent of the people who pass CFA Level III are women. This should gradually raise India to near global standards on diversity, but not everyone who passes the last level goes on to become a charterholder. The charter is given to those who pass the exam and gain 4,000 hours of work experience. The share of Indian women holding the charter drops to around a tenth of the overall number. The share of men accordingly rises to around 90 per cent.

There are around 170,000 CFA institute members globally. India has 3,500, said CFA Institute India head Arati Porwal. The reasons for a skewed gender mix include lack of pay parity at higher levels in companies; women dropping out due to personal goals such as marriage, migration and motherhood, according to Porwal. The CFA institute is attempting to bridge this gap through a mentorship programme for women, and encouraging policies to ensure greater diversity, equity and inclusion. This could help address participation and parity issues higher up the organisational hierarchy in firms, where there are few women and pay is often unequal.

“The problem arises especially at senior levels,” she said.

A smaller share of India’s women over the age of 15 are economically active than in many peer economies. This female labour force participation rate was 23 per cent for India in 2021 shows World Bank data, compared to a global figure of 47 per cent. It was higher in Brazil (52 per cent), Russia (55.3 per cent) and China (61.3 per cent). Most developed countries also have higher female labour force participation rates. It is 55.6 per cent in the United States and 58.3 per cent in the United Kingdom.

A number of reasons exist for lower participation, including social preferences for getting women to stay at home as household income grows, according to a 2014 International Labour Organization note entitled, ‘Women’s labour force participation in India: Why is it so low?’

“...much of the discussion on the falling trends has focused on four key explanations...rising educational enrolment of young women...lack of employment opportunities...effect of household income on participation....(and)...measurement,” said the report from author Sher Verick.