Editor-in-Chief Of Mint Issues Apology For Not Ensuring Gender Diversity At Annual Conclave

The Editor-in-Chief of Mint has issued an open public apology from his Twitter handle on December 16, 2021. The opening sentence of the apology letter by Sruthijith KK is "We made a mistake". It has already been catching the eyes of many users on social media. While many appreciate the apology offered, others condemn the financial daily newspaper for not trying enough to ensure gender diversity in a recently conducted conclave.

The front page of the newspaper which displayed pictures of speakers was shared by many people who did not take the fact well that women in a male-dominated leadership in the finance industry has had such a minuscule representation.

Sruthijith KK, the Editor in Chief of Mint took to Twitter to extend his apologies for not having enough women speakers in the Mint Annual Banking Conclave 2021.

The 14th Mint Annual Banking Conclave was held on December 15, 2021. The conclave is held annually by the group to bring together stakeholders from various domains like finance, technology, legal and regulatory, who could talk and discuss the changing landscape of the Indian banking system.

There were only four women in the group of 35 speakers present in the panel. The panel comprised of Union Minister for Commerce and Industry- Piyush Goyal, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India-M Rajeshwar Rao, CEO and Chairman of banking companies and other dignitaries of the finance sector.

The four women speaker at the conclave were Vishakha Singh(Co-founder & Vice President, WazirX), Mitali Mukherjee (Senior Financial Journalist), Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah(National University of Singapore) and Shruti Rajan (Partner, Trilegal).

 Such a minuscule representation of women speakers was not taken well by many people on social media platforms. However, the act of Sruthijith acknowledging it as a mistake was well appreciated by many activists and followers on Twitter. Indian journalist Nidhi Razdan, writer Kiran Manral and Activist and Lawyer of Supreme Court, Karuna Nundy appreciated the editor in chief for standing up and recognising the mistake.

ElsaMarie D'Silva, the founder and CEO of Red Dot Foundations in Mumbai that works to end violence against women, took to Twitter to appreciate the behaviour, but at the same time pointed to the effort that is required for shifting mindsets. She wrote, "Happy to work with your team and you on challenging unconscious bias. Whilst your apology is accepted, there is still a lot in it that is gendered. Shifting mindsets takes a lot of effort."

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