Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

We’re not going back on gender parity, say Davos leaders

Alessandra Galloni, Editor-in-Chief, Reuters, Canada; Anna Bjerde, Managing Director, Operations, World Bank, Washington DC; Katherine Garrett-Cox, Chief Executive Officer, Gulf International Bank (UK), United Kingdom; Lutfey Siddiqi, Special Envoy of the Head of the Interim Government of Bangladesh; Michael Ensser, Chairman, Egon Zehnder, Switzerland; speaking in Adding Trillions with Gender Parity session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 21/1/2025, 15:00 – 15:45 at Congress Centre - Aspen 2. Stakeholder Dialogue. Copyright: World Economic Forum / Mattias Nutt

The economic case for gender parity is clear, experts convening in Davos say. Image: World Economic Forum/Mattias Nutt

Stéphanie Thomson
Writer, Forum Stories
This article is part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
  • While the economic case for gender parity seems clear-cut, there has been a growing backlash against the push for women’s equal rights.
  • This backlash could be explained by elements of tokenism, which have also failed to lead to sustainable change.
  • Making real, lasting change will mean tackling things like deeply ingrained socio-cultural attitudes and gender roles.

The economic case for gender parity should be settled. Time and time again, research shows that if men and women were to have the same opportunities — educational, professional, health, to name a few — it would pay off, quite literally.

“If you had women participating as actively as men in the economy, the GDP of the world would be 20% higher,” pointed out Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank, in a session at Davos. Case closed. Or, as another panellist in the session, Michael Ensser, Chairman of executive search firm Egon Zehnder, put it: the business argument for gender equality is “an absolute no-brainer.”

And yet, what once seemed like a consensus view — that gender equality was something worth fighting for — has increasingly been called into question. For example, around the world, women’s access to sexual and reproductive healthcare has come under attack. As a result, the World Health Organization estimates that in 40% of countries where we have data, women’s bodily autonomy is diminishing.

What’s behind this growing backlash? Lutfey Siddiqi, a special envoy of the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, has a theory. “One of the problems that we need to confront is that there have been elements of tokenism and virtue-signalling in the way we’ve approached this,” he argued, citing examples where companies have “tried to parachute people in from the top as opposed to building an inclusive culture from the bottom.”

There have been elements of tokenism and virtue-signalling in the way we’ve approached this.

Lutfey Siddiqi, Special envoy of the head of Bangladesh’s interim government

Not only was this approach ineffective, it possibly accounts for the push-back we’ve been seeing in some countries when it comes to gender equality, Siddiqi said. “Some of the ESG scores are very reductionist, they look for a single score. And then in organizations it becomes adopted by HR and compliance, and all of a sudden you’ve defenestrated the manager who could have taken some ownership of this thing.”

But Siddiqi emphasized that even if this might offer an explanation for the backlash, it doesn’t justify that backlash. “We can’t throw out the baby with the bathwater,” he argued. “To say, well, because it was done in a tokenistic way in that instance, I’m going to give up on that altogether, that would be a silly way to go.”

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So what might be the way to go? Unfortunately, as we’ve learned, there are no easy solutions — at least not effective ones. Making real, lasting change will mean tackling things like deeply ingrained socio-cultural attitudes and gender roles, panellists agreed. Which is possibly why it sometimes feels we have been having these same conversations for a long time. “It’s quite embarrassing that we are having this conversation in 2025,” Katherine Garrett-Cox, Chief Executive Officer at Gulf International Bank Asset Management, said during the session. “I wonder if it’s that some people think it’s too hard?”

While specific solutions might not be obvious, one thing the session made clear: we should all agree that achieving gender parity is a priority. “We have a lot to learn from each other,” conceded Bjerde. “But let’s not abandon this topic.”

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