浪花直播

Past Event

Roadmap to 50x50: Power and Parity in Women's Leadership

Discover new tools to achieve gender parity in public service leadership around the world in a groundbreaking new report from the Women in Public Service Project.

 

Where are women in governments around the world? How much power do they hold? How did they get to their positions of leadership? The is a first-of-its-kind project that harnesses the the power of data to answer these three key questions, providing a multi-dimensional snapshot of women's public service leadership in 75 countries.

Global thought leaders explored innovative approaches to achieving gender parity in leadership around the world with the launch of the report Roadmap to 50x50: Power and Parity in Women鈥檚 Leadership.

Selected Quotes

Dana Bash:

鈥淭his is special, to have a woman heading this amazing center, the Woodrow 浪花直播 Center; to have this amazing study, which is really remarkable 鈥 slightly depressing 鈥 but remarkable, because we need to know the stats and the data; to have this conversation, and to really stir things up.鈥

Jane Harman:

鈥淗ow can we expect the best foreign policy decisions, or any policy decisions for that matter, with only half the population represented at the table?鈥

鈥淲e know women鈥檚 leadership matters. Women leaders have a positive impact on governance, economic growth, equality and inclusive sustainable development.鈥

鈥淲e have complete data measuring women鈥檚 leadership across 75 countries---more coming soon--and today we are making public the first report---that鈥檚 this report that you all need to have and memorize---measuring the pathways to women鈥檚 leadership.鈥

鈥淲PSP has launched the world鈥檚 most comprehensive resource in women鈥檚 leadership in public service. With data points for over 195 countries and territories, assessing women鈥檚 leadership in executive, legislative, judicial, civil service and national security positions worldwide.鈥

鈥淚n an era of fake news, this is the real deal.鈥

Michele Flournoy:

鈥淵ou have to find your own style of contribution."

鈥淵ou have to be absolutely excellent, over-prepared, so there is no question why you鈥檙e there. And you have to also be willing to stand up for your voice. When someone interrupts the woman, you have to say, 鈥淓xcuse me, I鈥檇 like to finish.鈥

鈥淚f you have a moment of descent, you have to find the courage to speak up. When all the male heads turn and look at you, and are like 鈥淲hy are you speaking? Why are you not in the consensus?鈥 So, it does take a certain amount of fortitude.鈥

鈥淒iverse leadership teams make better decisions and oversee higher performing organizations.鈥

Carla Hayden:

鈥淵ou have to be very concrete and intentional and specific about what you want. And that鈥檚 something as a female in positions, you hesitate, or you might think in mentoring young women about not being afraid to be definite and secure in what you do.鈥

鈥淚t鈥檚 really empowering women to be themselves, to be authentic, and not be so upset to show weakness.鈥

鈥淲hen you think about the pay and equity with education, and what we pay teachers, our most important group really, when you think about the future and what they are paid, part of that has to do with it is a feminized profession. And so, we鈥檙e working on that, in general, with all of those traditionally feminized professions.鈥

Gwen Young:

鈥淭his Index is the first of its kind, because it鈥檚 the first to measure women鈥檚 leadership across all five sectors of government. So not just women presidents, and the women in parliament and legislature, but women in public administration, the judiciary, [and] national security.鈥

鈥淲e know with data, not only can you measure, but you can innovate, you can drive change, and you can find solutions.鈥

鈥淲e often don鈥檛 think about public administration 鈥 which implements the laws, which in some countries is the safer or 鈥榖etter鈥 place for women to work 鈥 but also that controls a lot of the GDP and what goes on in a country. So this is incredibly important.鈥

鈥淣ot only do you have to break the ceilings, but you have to break the walls. You have to get women at every decision-making table.鈥

鈥淭his has been a global effort built off partnerships and platforms 鈥 part of what we want to do is continue to build this global platform of people that are committed to women鈥檚 leadership in government, committed to women鈥檚 leadership across all sectors, and figure out exactly what it鈥檚 going to take to move the needle.鈥

Nadia Younes:

鈥淲e have to get rid of some of the myths. The myth of meritocracy, the myth that it鈥檚 going to take 217 years, the myth that this has to be slow.鈥

Ayesha Molino:

鈥淲hat does this mean to advance gender parity, particularly in the public sector? What we have found is that three things are essential. First, you have to have a top-down commitment that gender diversity inclusion, including the willingness to devote meaningful resources to the cause.鈥

鈥淲hy does diversity matter to a company like us? As my CEO Jim Murren would say, 鈥楩irst and foremost, it is because it is the right thing to do.鈥欌

Stephanie Gore:

鈥淪o, in a nutshell, I think there are some programs that other companies can use and model, like KPMG, the other big four as well, that will help retain women and give them options to opt-in, and remain in, instead of opting-out of the workforce.鈥

Ambassador Lars Gert Lose:

鈥淲e have to look at the basic structures in our society that would actually enable women to get out there and work.鈥

鈥淚t is important to keep this on this agenda for countries that think they do well. Denmark has done well for many years, but we still have a lot of work to do.鈥

鈥淚nvolving more men in gender equality, the 鈥楬eForShe鈥 thinking, that is an important cross-cutting issue on this agenda.鈥

Ambassador Jennifer Loten:

鈥淭he idea of culture, the culture of equality 鈥 how do you create and promote that? Some of the best policies in the world will only work if you have ways to ensure there is a penetration of understanding.鈥

鈥淎n important culture change that I think we have to make鈥e have to stop thinking about our kids as a barrier or an anchor鈥 they are a source of inspiration and energy, they are the reason that we go to work and the reason we come home at the end of the day. It should not be something that detracts from our vision of ourselves as leaders.鈥

鈥淚 think we need have to stop asking ourselves whether or not [the 50x50 vision is attainable] and just get on with it.鈥

Patrick Keuleers:

鈥淕ender parity in public administration, in my view, is important for three main reasons. First, barriers to women鈥檚 advancement in public service undermine the fundamental principles of equality opportunity and social justice in society. Second, without a critical mass of women in public administration, a government is not tapping into the full potential of a country's capacity, workforce and creativity. Third, the public administration affects the lives of millions of people, half of whom鈥攊f not more鈥攁re women.鈥

鈥淩esearch shows that gender parity in policy-making and decision-making enhances the effectiveness and responsiveness of administrative agencies.鈥

鈥淲e know that more women engaging in the peace processes leads to the sustainability of the peace agreements.鈥

Katja Iversen:

鈥淕irls and women are powerhouses, and they are critical in powering progress for everybody - especially when they are in leadership positions.鈥

鈥淚f we really want to see the change that we need to see, we need to shift investments, we need to shift the narrative, and we need to get that data and stories into play.鈥

鈥淕ender equality is in the water, we just need to get people to drink that water.鈥

Shabana Azmi:

鈥淚 believe that men and women are different鈥ot better, not worse, but different. And that difference needs to be included in the global dialogue that is taking place.鈥

鈥淥ften times, education reinforces gender divides. It is very important that when you talk about education, you talk about gender-just education.鈥

Speakers

Debbie Dingell
U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell
(D-MI-12)

Moderator

Hosted By

Global Women's Leadership Initiative

The Global Women鈥檚 Leadership Initiative has hosted the Women in Public Service Project at the 浪花直播 Center since June, 2012. The Women in Public Service Project will accelerate global progress towards women鈥檚 equal participation in policy and political leadership to create more dynamic and inclusive institutions that leverage the full potential of the world鈥檚 population to change the way global solutions are forged.   Read more

Global Women's Leadership Initiative