Central bank No. 2 says more diversity at policy table is key in modern economy

Her comments on gender diversity on Friday come after the Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz spoke in March about strategies to boost female workforce participation. Poloz pointed to Quebec’s subsidized child-care program as a tool that could be extended across the country to add more prime-age women to the workforce, and boost Canada’s economy in turn.

Wilkins said Friday that the Bank of Canada has made strides in gender diversity within its own ranks, as roughly half of its 1,700 staff are currently women, but representation is lower in the economics and finance roles.

She said the education system needs to encourage more diversity in the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and improve the pipeline of talent.

“Real change comes when you have a diverse set of people around the table, because that’s when you get diverse sets of ideas of what we should care about… You also can see that you avoid falling into that echo chamber,” she said.

Wilkins also said, more broadly, rising inequality in society is a concern as it leads to more volatile economic growth, and erodes trust in institutions.

“When you don’t have social cohesion, when it’s undermined because people think the system isn’t fair and it doesn’t include them, then you undermine trust for institutions,” she said. “And for the Bank of Canada, trust is actually our currency. There is a lot of trust in the Bank of Canada right now and we just can’t take that for granted.”

Armina Ligaya, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Central bank No. 2 says more diversity at policy table is key in modern economy

What's Trending