Women leaders hit by massive cuts-Report
2023.03.06 12:05
Women leaders hit by massive cuts-Report
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – According to a new study that was released on Monday, women have only held 12% of the top jobs at 33 of the largest multilateral institutions since 1945, and more than a third of those organizations, including all four large development banks, have never been led by a woman.
According to the report that was prepared by GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion, an advocacy group that is comprised of 62 current and former senior women leaders, five of the bodies have only had a woman president once in their history. This includes Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who is currently in charge of the World Trade Organization.
The study, which will be released at this week’s meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, called for equal representation of women in multilateral organizations’ secretariats and governing bodies at all levels, from field offices to headquarters.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa, a former Ecuadorian foreign minister who was president of the United Nations General Assembly from 2018 to 2019, stated, “The truth is that numbers matter.”
“It’s a demographic justice thing, to start with,” she told Reuters in an interview on Friday. “We are 50% of the world’s population.” However, I also believe that women bring this combination of leadership, wisdom, empathy, and occasionally even a deeper comprehension of the world around them.”
According to the report, only 47 of the 382 leaders in the 33 institutions studied have been women. In addition, only one third of the institutions are currently led by women, despite recent advancements.
GWL Voices stated that it would publish a more comprehensive version of the report in September that would also examine the 33 institutions’ governing bodies and senior management teams. It stated that it was advocating for changes to governance that could “accelerate the transition to gender-balanced leadership.”
The World Bank, the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Food and Agriculture Organization are among 13 organizations that have never been led by a woman since the end of World War II, when most of these organizations were established.
Espinosa stated that it was disappointing that the United States, the World Bank’s largest shareholder, appointed a man, a former Mastercard executive, as president last month. Despite urgent requests from her group and other World Bank member states to select a female leader, Chief Executive Ajay Banga accepted the position.
Espinosa stated that she was in favor of having someone like Banga, who was born and educated in India and spent much of his early career there, lead the World Bank. However, there were hundreds of women who had qualifications and backgrounds that were comparable to Banga’s.
