Women hold fewer than 20 percent of all decision-making national positions, says the World Economic Forum’s sixth annual Global Gender Gap Report 2011, released at the organization’s office in New York.
And while 85 percent of the 135 countries in the survey, representing more than 93 percent of the world’s population, made some progress in women’s health and education levels, relatively few showed marked advances for women in economic and political parity since the first survey came out in 2006. Tuesday’s conference focused on the need for governments and the private sector to implement and enforce laws and policies that promote women’s economic and political roles.
“A world where women make up less than 20 percent of the global decision-makers is a world that is missing a huge opportunity for growth and ignoring an untapped reservoir of potential,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, echoing a view that is gaining ground at least among big multinationals. I.B.M., for example, just added walk to its talk on women, appointing Virginia M. Rometty as its first female chief executive.
The World Economic Forum is not the only body doing comparative gender studies. In September, the World Bank released its annual report, noting unprecedented gains by women in education, health and access to jobs and livelihoods but gaps in female death rates, pay and decision-making in households and society. Caroline Anstey, managing director of the World Bank, stressed that women were still only “a subgroup of a subgroup” for the Group of 20, yet it is at such lofty summits that the need to invest in women — and the rewards of doing so — should be emphasized.
“These reports help us look over time at changes in countries and show us where the gaps are and where to look to improve business practices,” Laura Liswood, secretary general of the Council of Women World Leaders and a senior adviser on diversity at Goldman Sachs, said in an interview. “We are seeing progress in education and health, but we’re not seeing much progress on the economic and political side, which is a big concern.”
Source: The New York Times, November 1, 2011
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