If you’re a banker and a man, you’re probably confident you’ve got a shot at advancement, that you’re in a position that’s on a C-Suite path, and that your colleagues are backing you up and supporting you. But if you’re a banker and a woman, you’ve got none of that going for you.

Since more than 60 percent of bank employment is now held by women, there’s an awful lot of female talent getting left behind.

Earlier this month, a couple hundred people gathered at the New England Women in Banking Conference in Newport. I was fortunate to be one of the organizers of that event, which counted groups like Boston Women in Finance, the Financial Managers Society Boston Chapter, and the New England Financial Marketing Association as partners. More than 200 women showed up, but fewer than 10 men.

It’s a problem when men don’t see a need to be interested in, and supportive of, women in banking. Among the event’s speakers were Stoneham Bank President and CEO Janice Houghton, along with Ellen Ford, president of People’s Credit Union in Rhode Island and chair of the Credit Union Association of Rhode Island, and Margaret Livingston, president of Guilford Savings Bank in Connecticut. Each of them has been with their institution for decades, and started low on the totem pole. Each one said that they were spurred to reach for the top job by men in their organization, who stood with them and supported them.

But each also said that they believe they got to be CEO because they were a known commodity. Not one thought that they would have had a chance at being the boss if they were an outsider coming to the bank, despite their often decades-long resumes.

Counting Backwards

Let’s be frank: Women are not advancing their representation in banking’s executive suites. Last year, there were 13 women bank presidents in Massachusetts, a number lauded by the Massachusetts Bankers’ Association, since it meant about one of 10 banks in the commonwealth were female-led. But in 2002, there were 17 women bank presidents here, so in absolute numbers the field is smaller.

Given that females as a percentage of bank employees keep growing, and that many women have now spent considerable time at their institutions, we should be seeing the absolute numbers of women leaders growing. But that’s not happening. And women know it’s not.

In advance of the conference, Northampton-based Market Street Research reached out to thousands of bank and credit union employees across New England. Of the men who participated, 9 percent think women have more opportunities than men. That’s not a view shared by women, only 2 percent of whom think they have an advantage. But what about equality of opportunity? More than half of the men think everyone’s got a fair shot. Only about a third of the women would agree.

Maybe that’s because men are disproportionately sitting in the jobs that lead to being the leader. According to the Market Street study, 45 percent of men in banking have jobs with profit and loss responsibility, compared with just 25 percent of women respondents. It’s hard to become president if you don’t have a history of balancing profit and loss. And where about 25 percent of male respondents said they are actively involved in mapping out bank strategy, only 6 percent of the women are.

It’s not just that the system seems stacked against women, but that women themselves seem complicit. Two-thirds of the women who participated in the survey say they aren’t interested in a C-Suite job. Only about 40 percent of the men say the same thing.

There’s lots of historical, anecdotal, and ongoing research that show women’s careers often take a different arc than men’s, as women look for a different balance between work and family. Perhaps that’s what women want, or perhaps they’re just living according to expectations.

Stoneham Bank’s Houghton admits she wouldn’t be where she is now if she hadn’t been encouraged by men to reach for more. But she did, and her bank has grown well under her guidance. If more women are working in banks, maybe more women should be running them, too. But for that to happen, it’s going to need the push of a few good men.

Vincent Michael Valvo is CEO of Agility Resources Group LLC. He can be reached at vvalvo@agilityresourcesgroup.com