Deputy pm condemns banks' male domination

LONDON - Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, Harriet Harman, has laid the blame for the global financial crisis on the male domination of top jobs in banks.

The deputy Labour Party leader suggested that the presence of more women in the boardrooms of major financial institutions could have eased the impact of the credit crunch.

Harman, who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the Government while Prime Minister Gordon Brown is on holiday, was defending her call for one of Labour's top two jobs to be filled by a woman.

Asked whether the turmoil would have been avoided if more women were in senior positions, she referred to the United States investment bank whose collapse triggered the financial meltdown.

"Somebody did say ... that if it had been Lehman Sisters, rather than Lehman Brothers, then there may not have been as much," she said.

Although she stressed that she did not make the remark herself, she made it clear she agreed with the sentiment.

Just five of the 61 board places in Britain's "big four" banks are occupied by women, with the boards at Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland entirely male.

- INDEPENDENT