Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Women want better representation at economic forum

A group of high-powered women at the World Economic Forum pushed on Sunday for better representation at the elite gathering, and one said the problem was getting through "a thick layer of men."

"I believe that this conference in order to be successful in the future needs to have larger participation from women," US former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at a news conference.

Noting that some of the world's most powerful companies pay dearly to send participants to the forum, Albright said, "There should be an insistence that each company's delegation include women, because our voices are essential in discussion of the economic future of the world and the fragility of the system."

Companies pay more than $20,000 for each participant sent.

Of the roughly 2,700 leaders of business, government and the arts convened for this year's forum, only 10 per cent are women, which still is an increase from the meeting's early years, when only a handful of women attended, according to Donna Redel, managing director of the forum.

Albright was joined at the news conference by an all-female panel including Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the chief executive officer of Vivendi Universal Publishing, Agnes Touraine, US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, and television broadcaster Barbara Walters.

All had attended an earlier meeting to launch the forum's Women Leaders Initiative, but Walters noted dryly that the group had been denied a place on the main forum program, and indeed had to meet outside the main hotel.

"This is an image of a very powerful group," Laura Liswood, secretary-general of the Council of Women World Leaders, told reporters, referring to the all-woman panel. "But I challenge you to find a panel at the World Economic Forum that actually looks like this panel."

Asked why it had taken so long for the forum to move to attract more women, Liswood said there was now a "critical mass" of women in power.

"People often say that there is a glass ceiling," Liswood said. "And my reflection on that is, it's just a thick layer of men."

Walters said the forum was the place to make inroads for women because, "We felt this was a mountain to be climbed and it was important for the voices to be heard. This was a way of saying -- to the businesses and the countries -- don't exclude women, don't automatically think, this is a World Economic Forum, so we must automatically send a man."

Among those supporting the initiative were Queen Rania of Jordan and US Sen. Hillary Clinton.

ALSO READ:
The World Economic Forum: News & Views