Rwanda's financial sector boards are sitting at above-average representation of women compared to global benchmarks, making the country one of the stronger performers worldwide when it comes to putting women in leadership seats at financial institutions.
But board seats and corner offices are two different things. A promotion gap is emerging as a real concern, with fewer women moving through the pipeline into chief executive roles. Strong representation at the top governance level has not yet translated into women running these institutions day to day.
That gap matters because today's middle managers become tomorrow's CEOs. If the promotion pipeline stays uneven, Rwanda risks plateauing at the board level while the executive suite remains out of reach for the next generation of women in finance.
Originally published by BusinessDay.