Last week the World Economic Forum was held in Davos, Switzerland. This Summit that every year calls many of the most important world’s business leaders, economists and politicians to discuss a specific theme of global interest, has been seen as an elitist and predominantly masculine event due to the low participation of the women. However, this year the things have started to change and for the first time in the 47-year history of this conference, seven women were selected to lead the discussions that took place in the Forum. The seven women were: FMI director Christine Lagarde; IBM CEO Ginni Rometty; Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway; Sharan Burrow, general-secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, the world’s largest trade union; Fabiola Gianotti, director-general, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN); Isabelle Kocher, CEO of ENGIE, and Chetna Sinha, founder of the Mann Deshi Bank, which provides microfinance to women in India.
Likewise, although every year the analysis of gender inequality has been present in the agenda of the Forum, this year this topic had special relevance due in large part to this female leadership and to the impulse the movements like MeToo and Times Up.
I think it is a clear demonstration of the power of the women and the historic moment that the society is living. Logically, changing the male domain is not something that is achieved from one moment to another but start having presence and voice in these scenarios where the most important economic decisions that impact millions of people in the world are discussed and taken is a good start . I also think that it is important that the media give a greater coverage to this type of news that show women’s leadership and empowerment which would also contribute to changing the social imaginary of women as a weaker sex.
http://www.dw.com/en/the-new-face-of-leadership-at-the-davos-forum/a-42253887
-Monica Calderon