Female wave gains key positions in international economic institutions

From the IMF to the World Bank, through the OECD and the big banks, women have been able to access key positions of chief economists over the past year, but the trend should be further strengthened to to reach parity.

"It's a progress that women are being appointed chief economists of major international or national organizations," he said. AFP Laurence Boone, who last spring badumed the post of chief economist at the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Boone is part of the wave of women elected to occupy strategic positions hitherto monopolized by men, alongside the United States. Gita Gopinath in the MFIs (International Monetary Fund), the Greek Government Pinalopi Koujianou in the world Bank and recently the Polish Beata Javorcik in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), He will take up his duties in September.

Danish Michala Marcussen, who is almost a pioneer because he was appointed in September 2017 by the Societe Generale, one of the leading European banks, said that "these appointments are a sign for young women that they can also succeed in these organizations".

Despite this, Marcussen told the AFP She felt embarrbaded when conference attendees treated her as a source of inspiration. "I do not see myself as such, but I realized that there was something important – I'm sure it has an impact," he said.

AT Sylvie Matelly, deputy director of Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), there is no doubt: "the wind is changing direction".

"Even the most conservative countries on this issue do not escape the need to give more space to women in politics, in business management, in key national and international institutions," he said. .

Diversity is a wealth"
The Spanish Arancha González, who heads the International Trade Center (ITC), a joint WTO-UN agency based in Geneva, is convinced that "behind this approach, there is some something deeper ".

"There is something beyond pure cosmetics," he said. "Diversity is a source of wealth" and allows "a stronger economy, more generous returns and another way of conducting economic policies", he explained, relying on a 2016 report of the IMF.

Christine Lagarde, director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), also referred to this document in an article published Thursday in an IMF dossier entitled "A global imperative", devoted to "Women and growth".

Lagarde, who often wonders what would have happened if the bank Lehman Brothers, which had gone bankrupt in 2008, called "Lehman Sisters", took this opportunity to send a message to the financial world.

"If banks and financial supervisors increase the proportion of women in high positions, the banking sector would be more stablehe said.

However, equality in the economic world is still far away, said Boone.

"Many recent badyzes, discussed at the conference of the American Economic Association, have shown that diversity remains low in economic professions"

Gonzalez went further: "At the current pace, to reach full equality, it will take two generations, the steps taken are very shy."

"It still takes effort," said Matelly, who attributes "many of the problems we face today to roles still widely shared between men and women."

For Boone, "the most important thing" remains "to highlight the skills of those who have been appointed, their qualifications and their legitimacy to perform these functions".

The Economist of the Bank of France (BdF), Soledad Zignago, published a year ago with Anne Boring, an article on the blog of the BdF which discovered that the proportion of women economists was only 19% on average in the world, with a clear under-representation in the Anglo-Saxon world.

(With information from AFP)