Women — who control more than $20 trillion or about 70 percent of global consumer spending — account for only about a tenth of the voting power on the world’s key interest rates. Past and present female central bankers say this should change, Bloomberg reported.

They argue that greater representation for their gender might provide broader insight into economic behavior and even promote more financial stability. One academic study in 2000 found that women who served on the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee from 1966 to 1996 were among the most “ease-oriented” officials and that increasing female involvement “could have an important effect on policy outcomes.”

If “it’s all men, then you are excluding quite a wide range of opinion,” said DeAnne Julius, a former Bank of England policy-maker and now chairman of London-based Chatham House, an international research group. “Women have different social networks, shop in different places. This makes for a more diverse representation of experience and interests.”

Among officials who publicly vote on monetary policy in the Group of 20 leading economies, about 10 percent are women. Females head the central banks of Argentina, South Africa, Malaysia, Honduras, Botswana and the Bahamas, and currently form a majority of governors at the Federal Reserve.

Recent turnover at the European Central Bank and Bank of England has left their policies in all-male hands. There also aren’t any women among the officials who dictate interest rates for Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Mexico and Turkey.

Even though a greater balance may be achieved as more women enter economics and banking, Julius says governments may need to follow Kenya and Japan by introducing quotas.

“While I’m not generally in favor of quotas, when things don’t happen naturally a quota can drive change,” Julius said. “It forces policy-makers to think about why there aren’t more women being represented.”

The women who drive 70 percent of total consumer spending decide how their families use financial services, insurance and health care, according to a Boston Consulting Group poll of 23,000 women in 22 countries.