Women and corporate social responsibility in banking sector

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has assumed importance globally in the recent years. CSR is an organisation's commitment to run its business in a socially responsible manner in a way that it leads to sustainable development. Globally, the buzz about the need for gender diversity in the board rooms is getting louder and India is no exception. The Companies Act, 2013 has proposed that certain categories of companies must have at least one woman director on the Board. Today, woman constitute more than half of the workforce and a major part of the consumer market, still their needs are overlooked. The presence of a woman director on the board makes it easier for companies to identify and address the needs of the often overlooked female market. Companies no doubt take several initiatives on the social responsibility front but very less is invested in the area of woman empowerment. The purpose of this paper is to study the number of woman directors in various public and private sector banks of India and highlight the corporate social responsibility activities taken up by some of the prominent banks for the upliftment and empowerment of women.