Vienna (AFP)

Rare woman at the head of a bank, the Austrian Gerda Holzinger-Burgstaller wants to shake up the world of finance, even if it means establishing quotas to break the glass ceiling in Germanic countries lagging behind.

At the heart of Europe, the powerful banking sector remains a stronghold for men: in Austria, only 12% of financial companies are currently headed by women.

In office since January 1, the new head of Erste Bank is therefore an exception: at 42, she is at the head of a two-hundred-year-old institution, with 2,500 employees and one million customers.

"I can no longer count the number of times I found myself surrounded by men in a meeting", remembers Gerda Holzinger-Burgstaller, dark glasses and clear eyes, receiving AFP at the headquarters of the group, right next to the famous Belvedere Palace.

On the top floor of this modern building offering a bird's eye view of Vienna, she looks back on her journey, she who was not initially destined for finance.

She changed her mind after a first experience at the Austrian Financial Markets Authority (FMA), seeing that working in the banking sector made it possible to be active in all economic fields.

- One in 3 women at home -

At each stage of her ascent, she confides having invariably had to face the same prejudices.

“When a man becomes a chef, we don't ask him how he intends to reconcile his private and professional life,” she smiles, surprised at having to answer such questions during public meetings.

“The first questions are always specifically related to the fact that I am a woman,” she says.

"Only then come the requests concerning my strategy or my ambitions for the company," she regrets.

In Austria, women are under heavy pressure from society to stay at home when their first child arrives.

Almost one in three is at home, according to official figures.

And when they return to work, it's often part-time.

As a result, their situation on the labor market deteriorates.

In the "Women in Work" ranking of the business consultancy PwC, Austria in 2018 was 25th among the 33 OECD countries.

In 2013, she was 13th.

"We are late, I believe this is particularly a topic in German-speaking countries," says Holzinger-Burgstaller.

"We must all wonder about the stereotypes that persist: what sharing of roles does a society value? How are girls oriented in their education?", Explains the CEO.

- "We are here to stay" -

Preventing sexism is a necessity, because "more diversity brings new ideas for dealing with problems", according to Gerda Holzinger-Burstaller.

"There are as many men as women on our board of directors and our objective is to generalize this equality to the whole company", she explains.

But how to achieve this goal?

First, the Erste Bank drafts gender-neutral job offers and takes care to illustrate them with photos of women.

She explicitly encourages them to apply for management positions.

In order to go further, quotas must be introduced, advocates Holzinger-Burstaller.

"It's a useful tool for evolution," she says.

The German government plans to take the plunge.

At the Erste Bank, a quota of 40% of women in management positions has already been established, even if the law does not impose it.

"The company is ready, I am proof of it! We are here to stay. One of my goals is to ensure that a woman never finds herself alone in the meeting room again."

© 2021 AFP