--Source: WUNRN
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM 2013 - DAVOS
____________________________________________________________
WOMEN JUST 17% AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM IN DAVOS - NEED FOR GENDER QUOTAS FOR COMPANY BOARDS: EU PROPOSAL
[Brussels, 25 January 2013] Women's economic decision-making power has caught the headlines again this week. As the world's most influential leaders from business, government and academia converge at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, women make up just 17% of the delegates, the same as last year. Although quotas exist to encourage organisations to include women amongst their delegation (they must include one woman for every four men), the conference once again highlights the lack of women at the top of big corporations, opening up the debate on why women aren't in the board room, and ways to tackle the problem.
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding spoke on a panel in Davos this morning with other high profile women leaders - including Christine Lagarde and Sheryl Sandberg – which focussed on the question, "How can gender gaps be closed at the highest levels of economic decision-making?"
"The proof is in the pudding: regulatory pressure works," said Commissioner Reding in an interview ahead of her appearance, citing the growing proportion of women taking up board positions announced today – up to 15.8%, (an increase of 2.1% in the past year). However, growth remains considerably short of the '30% by 2015' target. This follows strong opposition from some EU member states to Reding's plan to impose 40% gender quotas on company boards proposed in October last year.
"I don't like to intervene very strongly, but I thought it was the only way," Reding said at the discussion today, "I tried to do it first with asking the companies to do it by themselves. What was the result? Nothing." Reding's comments emphasise the need for continued pressure, strong political leadership and cooperation from the business world to accelerate slow progress.
The European Women's Lobby (EWL) continues to call on the national governments to fulfil their commitments and honour their values by giving this legislative proposal their full and sincere backing, and thereafter laying down sanctions with the necessary clout to break the glass ceiling once and for all.
________________________________________________________________
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM 2013 - DAVOS - WHY ARE ONLY 17% OF THE DELEGATES WOMEN?
By Jane Martinson - 22 January 2013
The 2013 Annual Global Economic Forum for the world's movers and shakers will again be male-dominated. What is its excuse?
Despite introducing a quota which insists that the biggest companies send at least one woman for every four men, the percentage of women attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos has stuck at 17% for the past two years. Many of the companies subject to the quota simply send exactly four men, thus avoiding the need for a woman delegate.
With annual membership fees estimated at £100,000 on top of the enormous cost of travel and accommodation at the hard-to-reach Swiss village, many cite cost concerns of course, rather than the fact that they just don't have that many senior women.
Fernando Morales-de la Cruz, founder of ItiMa, points out that this puts the percentage lower that the 20% membership of Saudi Arabia's Consultative Council. I think this defeats the argument, though using an unelected council where the king makes the appointments to the 150-strong council but can take no notice of its suggestions. Give me the Angela Merkels and Christine Lagarde of the Davos 17% any day.
A better comparison is with the world's media, which also attends Davos in vast swathes but is not subject to the same quota. Given the lack of women at the top of business (2% of the FTSE 100), it would be easy to imagine that the media representatives are more keenly balanced. But they're not. In a way it shouldn't be surprising, not if we remember that the percentage of women heard on Radio 4's Today programme averages at about 18%.
Interestingly enough, both the BBC and WEF use the same argument to explain their case – with few women at the top of the world's biggest companies it's hard to improve the situation and get them heard. To be fair, the WEF has managed to do better than the BBC when it comes to panellists, with nearly a quarter women. Last year included a stellar cast of women from Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg but still white men dominated the biggest, most-important panels, especially those dealing with big topics such as finance, for example.
The only area where true equality is reached are among the "young global leaders" (the under 40s) or the Davos "global shapers" (under 30s) where the numbers approach 50/50.
Every time I write this reality check focusing on the numbers and the failure of women to get to the top in equal numbers, someone always asks: does it matter? Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand, was asked this on Radio 4's Woman's Hour on Monday. Of course it does, she answered. How else can we hope to deal with the whole world's problems and not just those of a handful of white men at the top. I can't beat that really.
--
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
womenESCR+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/womenESCR?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "(PWESCR) E group on women's ESCR" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to womenescr+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
For University of Pakistan Study Material Sharing, Discussion, etc, Come and join us at http://4e542a34.linkbucks.com
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Study" group.
To post to this group, send email to http://ca13054d.tinylinks.co
For more options, visit this group at
http://004bbb67.any.gs
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.