of combining their career and family. that is only to be respected and means that, wherever we can, we should create the conditions for combining work and childcare. not every job can be done part - time but there are plenty of positions, even at senior levels, that offer the flexibility that women prefer because of personal circumstances. that brings me to the nederlandsche bank ’ s policy in this area. let me begin with the plus - es. our general terms of employment are well - disposed towards women. we have a standard 36 - hour working week, opportunities for all, including senior staff, to work part - time, flexible working hours and good financial arrangements for childcare. our recruitment policy is geared to attracting women employees, and in fact over time more women, especially the higher educated who are the high potentials for advancing to the top, have joined the bank. to give you some figures, whereas our percentage of female employees increased merely from 30 to 34 percent over the last 6 years, the percentage of women in the higher salaried positions has doubled in that period. but, and that is a minus, we apparently don ’ t do enough to allow women to advance to the top. whereas 25 % of our female employees has an academic background, only 11 % reaches the level of senior management. so we still have a long way to go. one initiative in the netherlands to promote the advancement of women in the boardroom has been the creation of a network of ambassadors, comprising top male executives in larger organisations who are willing to push for more opportunities for women. i was recently asked to join this network. as one of the ambassadors, i am obliged to draw up three personal points for action and to stick to them. your conference gives me a wonderful opportunity to announce my three personal points for action or, to use words that i feel more confortable with, policy targets. if it ’ s up to me, what will the nederlandsche bank do in the near future to stimulate women ’ s advancement to the top? · my first personal point of action is to make it more visible, both to the outside world and to everyone working at the nederlandsche bank, that i am committed to promoting the career possibilities of women in our organisation. research has shown that explicit commitment by board members makes women more confident to apply for senior positions. moreover, it makes managers more aware that they are expected to pay attention to women candidates when it comes to promotion, and

nout wellink : the position of women in the financial sector address by dr nout wellink, president of the nederlandsche bank and president of the bank for international settlements, at the conference on “ women at the decision making positions ”, organised by the russian association of regional banks, amsterdam, 24 february 2003. * * * i rarely have the privilege of addressing an audience largely made up of women. that in itself is telling - and is not a good sign. but the fact of the matter is that the financial world is still dominated by men. that applies to both commercial and central banks, and the netherlands is no exception. so, in the run - up to international women ’ s day, you have every reason to hold this conference to focus on the role of women at senior management levels in the financial sector. the position of women in the labour market can and must be improved, notably in the financial sector. that ’ s not just because i think women deserve a better deal but also, if not mainly, because it would be good for companies and for society as a whole to see an improvement in women ’ s labour market participation and their chances to advance to the top. the world would be a bleaker place if it only consisted of men, and the same applies to organisations. an organisation with a mix of men and women on all levels has a more pleasant atmosphere, which possibly makes for a better performance. moreover, the economy as a whole will benefit from higher women participation rates, for the participation rate among women in the euro area is one of the reasons why the growth of income per capita here lags behind that in the united states. and women should be appropriately rewarded, of course. which reminds me of what was written about alan greenspan in a recent biography. when still running his own financial consultancy, some 40 years ago, greenspan chose to recruit women rather than men. his motivation was purely rational. he was convinced that women were just as qualified as men, but since the labour market did not fully appreciate the quality of women they were undervalued and hence cheaper. greenspan used his sharp insight to benefit from this arbitrage opportunity. back to the present day. the good news is that in the euro area the labour market participation for women aged between 24 and 45 is far higher than that for those of 45 and over. this indicates an improvement over time and is a promising development. the bad news is that women still lag far