The Board of the BCRA has created the Promotion of Gender Policies, Respect and Appropriate Workplace Behavior Management Office to promote, develop and implement policies to advocate for genders, diversity and equality within the BCRA and the financial system as a whole.
This new office will report directly to the Governorship of the BCRA and will be responsible for encouraging the use of bank services by, and the protection of the rights of women and LGBTIQ+ people.
The gender office will also promote research and statistics on gender and diversity in central banking and the financial system. It will also advise banks and other financial institutions from the private and public sector on these matters.
In addition, it will develop a comprehensive approach to violence and discrimination, and draft a protocol for handling cases of violence within the institution.
“As women playing the role of citizens and public officials, we have been committed to gender rights and policies in one way or the other. As soon as we took office as members of the Board, the BCRA union committee, a self-organized group of women, and other female workers got in contact with us to discuss the need of a specific area in this respect,” said Claudia Berger and Betina Stein.
“We listened to all of them and moved forward together. We are now proud to announce that we did achieve our target: the creation of the Promotion of Gender Policies, Respect and Appropriate Workplace Behavior Management Office, reporting to the Governorship of the BCRA.”
“We say that we did achieve our target because we could not have done it without the work and commitment of the leading groups, the support of the other members of the Board and officials, and especially the Governor of the BCRA for getting involved in gender issues, particularly, in the creation of this office,” they added.
The creation of this office is part of the actions that the BCRA has been carrying out with respect to gender and diversity. One of them was the “Women and Economic Gap” campaign, which helped to raise awareness of economic inequalities on the BCRA’s digital platforms. It was launched on the occasion of Women´s Day and ended on March 9 with a conference on gender and violence against women held by Dora Barrancos (renowned Argentine sociologist, historian, feminist and advisor to the Argentine Presidency) accompanied by the Governor of the BCRA, Miguel Ángel Pesce.
