Gender Parity Task Forces
There is strong evidence to show that, at the macro level, countries that invest in girls and integrate women into the workforce tend to be more competitive. Many governments are, therefore, considering or are already implementing affirmative policies, including quotas. There is also mounting research and anecdotal evidence that closing the gender gap is good for companies. Companies that successfully engage women may reap a rich diversity dividend. With talent shortages projected to become more severe in much of the developed and developing world, it is imperative for business to have access to female talent.
The Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme has launched three task forces, which aim to close the economic gender gap by up to 10% in three years, in Mexico, Turkey and Japan.
Each initiative includes the top 50-100 leaders and organizations that are best placed to accelerate progress on gender, focusing in particular on women’s economic integration. Those groups are composed of 50%-60% business/employers and 40%-50% other stakeholders, including relevant actors from the public sector, civil society, academic experts and media. National and international leaders and organizations participate in this activity to promote learning and exchange from other countries.
Objective
The overall goals of the task forces are:
- To address the challenges of gender disparity through a data-driven and systemic approach based on the specific country-level situation
- To enable collaborative interaction among a multistakeholder community of selected leading organizations
- To share and exchange tested, successful interventions that have effectively closed the economic gender gap, through private sector or public sector initiatives
Collaboration and monitoring
Each government provides overall guidance and support to the initiative and promotes its successful completion throughout the three years of implementation.
Co-Chairs from the private sector closely monitor the initiative, ensuring accountability to commitments.
The World Economic Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme serves as a neutral convening platform to demonstrate country-level success on economic gender parity. The Programme will provide its expertise and research (through the Global Gender Gap Report series, the Corporate Gender Gap Report, the Global Agenda Council on Women’s Empowerment, the Repository of Successful Practices and other research on country-level policies from 75 countries for closing the gender gap) to serve the needs of the individual and collective goals of the task forces.
Leaning in the right direction for women
Saadia Zahidi discusses the changing role of women in today’s society
Since 2012, two publications have generated tremendous debate about the role of highly skilled women in the economy and society. The Atlantic magazine published Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All”, and Sheryl Sandberg’s new book is called Lean In.
Simply put, Slaughter argues that women are not getting an even playing field from businesses and governments, and that women do not necessarily want to aim for leadership positions given their societal expectations and pressures. Sandberg, on...
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March 8, 2013
So can women have it all?
Outside forces shape a woman’s choices whether she realizes it or not, says Laura Liswood of the Council of Women World Leaders.
Much has been written and discussed about women’s ability to have it all – meaning both career and family. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s July/August 2012 Atlantic Monthly article turned the volume up even louder on the debate.
I attended a session recently where this issue was the main topic. At least 12 successful women described their life circumstances and the choices they made. It was highly personal and, as my English teacher would say, ad hominem, or, more accurately...
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January 25, 2013
Why technology is the future for girls
In the developing world, nearly 25% fewer girls and women are online than boys and men – closing this gap will change their futures, argues Nigel Chapman, CEO of Plan International.
Should access to a computer or a mobile phone be a basic human right? A controversial question perhaps but, nowadays, as technology leaps ahead into previously unimagined realms, one can argue that to be ill-educated in information and communications technology is to be immediately disadvantaged for life and work in the modern world. You only have to look at the news from last week’s annual technology...
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January 24, 2013
Why we should invest more in the education of girls
Shashi Tharoor is India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development. His most recent book is Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century.
NEW DELHI – One of the more difficult questions I found myself being asked when I was a United Nations under-secretary-general, especially when addressing a general audience, was: “What is the single most important thing that can be done to improve the world?”
It’s the kind of question that tends to bring out the bureaucrat in even the most direct of communicators, as one feels obliged to explain the complexity of the challenges confronting...
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December 19, 2012
The Global Gender Gap Report 2012
Saadia Zahidi, Senior Director, Head of Constituents at the World Economic Forum presents the results of the Global Gender Gap Report 2012.
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October 22, 2012
The Global Gender Gap Report 2012
The Global Gender Gap Index introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006, is a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress. The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time. The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. The methodology and...
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October 16, 2012
What if women made up half of the world’s decision makers?
Laura Liswood argues that our ability to solve problems would improve if women were better represented. The interview is part of the Risk Response Network’s “What if?” series.What is your main field of expertise? Developing policies of diversity and inclusion that lead to women’s empowerment.Given your research, what would you say is the most under-appreciated risk? The most under-appreciated risk is that organisations, corporations, countries and their governments are too slow to realise that women have to be included in the decision making on issues that impact us all. Take...
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June 6, 2012
Closing Mexico's Gender Gap
Mexico ranks 89th out of 135 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index. While the gender gap on education has been closed, women still lag behind men in terms of labour force participation, representation in leadership positions and in terms of wages. Under the leadership of Margarita Zavala, First Lady of Mexico; Angelica Fuentes, CEO, Omnilife and Carlos Danel, Co-Founder, Compartamos, the World Economic Forum launched today the Mexico Gender Parity Taskforce, an initiative that aims to close the economic gender gap in Mexico by 10% in the next 3 years.
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April 17, 2012
Corporate Gender Gap
The World Economic Forum’s Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010 is based on a survey of 600 of the heads of Human Resources at the world’s largest employers. The survey contained over 25 questions and assessed companies on representation of women within their establishments and the use of gender-equality practices such as measurement and target-setting, work-life balance policies and mentorship and training. The survey also asked respondents to identify the biggest barriers to women’s leadership and their opinion on the probable effects of the economic downturn on women’s employment in their...
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November 1, 2010
The Corporate Gender Gap 2010
Leading companies are failing to capitalize on the talents of women in the workforce, according to the World Economic Forum’s Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010. It is the first study to cover the world’s largest employers in 20 countries and benchmark them against the gender equality policies that most companies should have in place but are in fact widely missing.The report is based on a survey of 600 of the heads of Human Resources at the world’s largest employers. The survey contained over 25 questions and assessed companies on representation of women within their establishments and the use...
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November 1, 2010
Global Gender Gap
The Global Gender Gap Report 2012 benchmarks national gender gaps of 135 countries on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria. The Global Gender Gap Index was developed in 2006, partially to address the need for a consistent and comprehensive measure of gender equality that can track a country’s progress over time. The index points to potential role models by revealing those countries that – within their region or income group – are leaders in dividing resources more equitably between women and men than other countries, regardless of the overall level of resources available....
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October 19, 2010
