EN 
View important timelines showing our progress in select areas.
Women at Royal Bank
| Year | Data |
|---|---|
| 1902 | The first woman employed by Royal Bank was probably Jennie Moore, hired as a secretary in Vancouver, British Columbia. |
| 1917 | The first woman ledger keeper entered Royal Bank’s service in Barbados at Bridgetown main branch. |
| 1947 | More than 50% of the employees at Royal Bank were women. |
| 1963 | Royal Bank’s Pension Fund was extended to cover women. |
| 1968 | Georgette St. Cyr was the first woman to be appointed as a Royal Bank branch manager (Place Longueuil branch, Montreal, Quebec). |
| 1974 | All bank benefits were extended equally to male and female employees. |
| Royal Bank introduced a Maternity Leave policy. | |
| 1976 | Mitzi Dobrin was the first woman to be appointed to Royal Bank’s Board of Directors. |
| Millie Vasquez was the first woman to be transferred abroad by Royal Bank (to Bogotá, Colombia). | |
| 1977 | Task Force on the Status of Women – CEO Rowland Frazee commissioned this task force in response to concerns expressed by women employees. The task force’s recommendations dealing with mobility, training, and assessment of job opportunities for women still form the basis of policies in these areas today. |
| 1979 | Suzanne Labarge was the first woman to be appointed as a Royal Bank executive. |
| Royal Bank established an Equal Employment Opportunity program, the first of its kind for a Canadian bank. | |
| 1982 | Targets for recruiting, training and promoting women were established. |
| 1987 | The first Royal Bank Employment Equity survey was conducted to assess our workforce representation of the four designated groups in Canada, including women. |
| 1988 | The percentage of Royal Bank employees in Canada who are women reached 75%. |
| 1994 | Closing the Gender Gap awareness initiative was launched to increase effectiveness in dealing with and respecting gender differences. |
| 1999 | Suzanne Labarge was appointed Royal Bank’s first female Vice-Chairman. |
| 2004 | Janice Fukakusa was appointed Royal Bank’s first female Chief Financial Officer. |
| 2006 | Royal Bank sponsored an ongoing study of women in capital markets with Catalyst Canada, tracking the impact of efforts to increase the representation of women in the industry. |
| 2008 | Women in Royal Bank executive roles (in Canada) reached its highest level to date at 39%. |
| 2010 | Royal Bank received the prestigious Catalyst Award, an annual global award given to companies with an exceptional commitment to women and minorities. |
| Royal Bank established it first chapter of RWoman in Toronto, Ontario with subsequent chapters launched in New York (2011) and London, England (2012). RWoman is an employee led networking forum dedicated to fostering the development and career aspirations of Royal Bank’s female employees. | |
| 2011 | Heather Munroe-Blum, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University in Montreal and Bridget van Kralingen, general manager of North America for IBM Corporation in New York, were appointed to the Board of Directors, bringing the number of women on the 16-member Board to five. |
| 2012 | Royal Bank signed the Catalyst Accord, supporting a call to action for Canadian corporations to increase the overall proportion of “FP500” board seats held by women to 25 per cent by 2017. |
| 2014 | Kathleen (Katie) Taylor was appointed Chair of the Board of Royal Bank, effectively becoming the first woman to chair the board of a major Canadian bank. |
| 2014 | Jennifer Tory was the first woman to be appointed Group Head, Personal & Commercial Banking. |