Level playing field for women

Watching out for blind spots

More and more people – women and men – are speaking up for equal rights for women. That's great, but it's not the whole story. Unfortunately, not everything that looks equal, is in fact equal. That's largely because we view the world through a male lens. Including the financial world.

So, we don't know any better. Or actually: we didn't know any better. Because at ABN AMRO we check carefully whether our way of thinking – about women, for example – isn't unfair or old-fashioned. Whether we hold views without even realizing it. How do we do that? By paying close attention to what we're doing, asking each other critical questions and not assuming that something ‘is just the way it is'. This way, we can break old habits together.

Words alone aren't enough

We've been working for equal opportunities for women for years. Specifically, we look at three groups: female colleagues, female customers and women in society. We don't just talk about it. We act. For example, we've joined the Financial Alliance for Women. And in 2019 we signed the United Nations' Women's Empowerment Principles. This shows how important we find these global movements. And that we promise to actively support them.

For all women ...

We regularly research whether men and women at ABN AMRO are paid equally. The result: everyone in the same salary scale earns the same. And yet there's inequality: there are more men in the higher salary scales and more women in the lower ones. We want to address that. By 2025 we want 35 out of every hundred managers to be women. For the layer below the Executive Board, our goal is 48 percent.

Throughout our organization, we do our best to attract new colleagues in a woman-friendly way. For example, by writing job ads that appeal more to women. This means they'll respond faster too. And if you have a job interview with us, you’ll speak to both a man and a woman.

... within the bank ...

Our bank has existed for about 200 years. In that long history, most things we’ve done for our customers were catered to men: from products and services to information about risks and opportunities. The result? Well, women have 30 percent less chance of getting the loan they need, for example. Isn’t that strange? Especially when you consider that 40 percent of all money and all businesses in the world are in female hands.

We want to better understand our female customers, so we can offer them tailored services and products. Maybe they're missing out on opportunities because we're not offering them the right possibilities. We want to improve our service to women as much as possible. Including by looking carefully at their wishes and needs and creating new products and services. As a result, our advice, processes, marketing and communication will also change for the better.

... and beyond

We also support equal opportunities for women outside our organization. Because we're a large bank, people listen to us – especially in the business world. We want to use that to get other organizations moving. From customers to suppliers and partners: we expect them to work for equal opportunities for women too.

You can find our opinion on this topic in the agreements we make with the parties we work with. Additionally, as a sports sponsor we can make a difference. Including for Ajax's women footballers and about 50 hockey clubs in the Netherlands. Because even though hockey definitely involves 'fair play', women don't get the same opportunities as men in the sport.