1. Introduction: Illusion of Equality 2. Gender at Work: Theorizing gender inequality in the workplace 3. Women's Employment in the Banking Sector: An overview 4. Encouraging Equality or Denying Discrimination? Gendered patterns of work and employment in the banking sector in India 5. The Importance of Being Respectable: The impact of local cultural norms on patterns of gender equality 6. Explaining Gender Inequalities in the Indian Banking Sector: The role of institutional factors 7. Challenging or Coping? Women's reponses to gender inequalities in the Indian banking sector 8. Conclusion

Supriti Bezbaruah is an independent researcher based in Singapore. She has a PhD in Geography from Queen Mary, University of London; a BA (Hons) degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from the University of Oxford; and an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She has previously worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in India, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the United Kingdom and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore. Her research interests are centred on gender and development issues, with a particular focus on South Asia.

It may well be surprising to say that the world should look to India as a model of gender equality. India's banking sector proves the exception, with several women reaching the highest positions in India's top banks, including the country's largest bank.
Based on interviews and surveys of bank employees in India's National Capital Region, this book looks at what lies behind the media rhetoric and provides a systematic analysis of patterns of, and responses to, gender inequality in the banking sector in India. The book uncovers how gender discrimination still persists in the banking sector, albeit in covert forms. Through a comparison of nationalized, Indian private and foreign banks, the book demonstrates how the impact of laws, local cultural norms and gendered workplace practices are mediated through different organizational forms in these different types of banks to create varied experiences of gender inequality.
The book is one of the first books to provide a thorough, in-depth analysis of women's employment in the Indian banking sector, currently an under-researched area.