The Role of Women in Executive Banking Positions: Challenges and Success Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Women underrepresentation in waterfalls involving executive banking in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the most enduring obstacles to financial institutions gender equity. Although there is a high level of female representation in most banking organisations, advancement into senior decision-making positions has been gradual and uneven throughout the region. This paper examines issues affecting women leaders in the banking industries in SSA, particularly cultural and institutional and structural barriers. It also examines the tactics adopted by effective female leaders like Chetachi Ezenagu who is the Deputy General Manager and Regional Head at Fidelity Bank PLC whose career path is an example of resilience and success in the male dominated industry. Under the broad rubric of the gendered organization and the paradigm of leadership labyrinth, this paper constructs research questions and hypotheses that seek to challenge the correlation between female leadership and organizational performance. In addition, the paper places the profile of Chetachi within the EB1A (extraordinary ability) immigrations system, portraying her personal establishment in the industry. This paper adds to the scholarly discussion and to the body of knowledge on how it can be addressed, through a multi-level analysis by examining how individual, organizational and ecosystem processes can complement each other in promoting gender diversity in SSA banking.