Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside it.
The Guardian in 2013 cited one question that the entrance examination paper for a trainee program at Merrill Lynch in 1972 had: “When you meet a woman, what interests you most about her?” The correct answer was beauty. Those who thought intelligence, were given low marks. There was, of course, no question on what interests one the most when meeting a man. This is gender discrimination at its worst in the financial sector. Do we see this in 21st century India? There is no gender discrimination in the Indian financial sector— whether at the organizational level or in choice of consumers. Then why did the ex finance minister P. Chidambaram want to set up a bank exclusively for women customers and run by women? 
One reason could be political. Women as a gender are not a separate constituency yet in India. There are urban women, rural women, wealthy women and poor women but women as a gender are not a vote bank. This is a relatively low-cost experiment to create that. Beyond politics, as a symbol of women’s empowerment, this is not a laughing matter or an idea to ridicule, but translating this into success is no easy job. There are quite a few cooperative banks in India that give loans to women borrowers. Then there are two cooperative organizations run exclusively by women—the Ahmedabad-based Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank Ltd and Maharashtra based Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank Ltd— but both of them have a successful but limited geographical presence.
Globally too there aren’t too many instances of banks run by women, for women. Tanzania has one such example. In 1999, a group of women entrepreneurs mooted the idea of a women’s bank to then president Benjamin William Mkapa and it took eight years for the Women’s Bank Public Ltd Co to set up, with the government holding 97% equity stake and private entities the rest and on the day the bank was launched, 110 women opened accounts. It focuses on low-income earners, small businesses and small and medium enterprises and men can also open accounts in this bank based in Dar es Salaam.
Ahead of Tanzania, Pakistan had set up First Women Bank Ltd. Late prime minister Benazir Bhutto was instrumental in establishing this to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs. It commenced business in December 1989, with five leading public sector banks— National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Ltd, Muslim Commercial Bank Ltd, United Bank Ltd and Allied Bank Ltd— holding 90% stake and the government the rest. After 23 years of existence, the bank has about 60,000 women customers, handled by 600 employees spread over 41 branches over 24 locations. The only other example of a special vehicle for women is Women’s World Banking, Savings and Loans Co. Ltd. Starting operations in 1998, it has seven branches in Ghana. It’s an affiliate of the Women’s World Banking global organization that has a network of microfinance institutions and banks working to help low-income entrepreneurs around the world.
In India, the self-help groups (SHGs) and microfinance movements have been driven by women. Such groups are an intermediary between the banking system and borrowers. Banks and microfinance institutions are comfortable dealing with women borrowers as they are more responsible and disciplined in their approach in paying back the money. While many men in rural India spend their meagre earnings drinking alcohol and gambling, women keep the hearth fires burning and take care of children’s education.
A woman’s bank will not become successful in India if it focuses only on banking. If our government is serious about this project, it must see that this bank goes beyond taking deposits and giving loans and becomes a vehicle for changing attitudes about women and their money, taking care of other things such as education, vocational training, etc and help in empowering women by educating them about self-finance. At a parallel level, we also need to address two structural issues— women must have right to property (otherwise they can’t offer collateral for a loan) and get adequately involved in formal economy through jobs and entrepreneurship. Professional urban women do not need a bank of their own but rural women, particularly in those pockets of India which are fraught with casteism and gender discrimination, will find in it an oasis.