I am up for promotion alongside a female colleague. I know the bank is unlikely to promote both of us and my colleague has suggested that she will succeed because of female quotas. Should I raise this with my boss or wait until a decision is made?

You question is timely given that the government recently commissioned a review into gender-related disparities in the City to determine, among other things, why women represent 66% of recruits at entry level in the financial services sector but fall away to just 14% at executive committee level.