Towards Parity in Power / DAVOS 2025

Summary

This panel discussion focused on achieving gender parity in political power and decision-making roles globally. Participants highlighted the slow progress towards equal representation, with estimates suggesting it could take 168 years to reach parity at the current rate. They emphasized the need for intentional design and institutional efforts to accelerate change.

Key points included the importance of economic autonomy for women’s political participation, the role of quotas and legal mechanisms in increasing representation, and the need to change societal mindsets. Panelists discussed challenges women face in male-dominated fields like law enforcement and politics, including higher scrutiny and expectations.

The conversation touched on the multi-faceted nature of the issue, involving community support, organizational culture, and personal safety. Corruption was identified as a significant barrier to women’s advancement, with sexual exploitation being a particular concern. Panelists stressed the importance of gender-sensitive reporting channels and community-led initiatives to combat these issues.

The discussion also addressed the need for diversity within gender representation, acknowledging intersecting identities like race and class. Participants highlighted the positive impact of women in leadership roles, particularly in peacemaking efforts. They called for sustained efforts to monitor progress, normalize women in power, and achieve parity across all levels of decision-making.

The panel concluded with calls for specific measures to advance gender parity, including improved laws, gender-disaggregated data, and the appointment of a female UN Secretary-General by 2030.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The current state of gender parity in politics and leadership positions globally

– Challenges and barriers women face in accessing political power and leadership roles

– The importance of institutional changes, laws, and quotas to increase women’s representation

– The need for economic empowerment of women to enable greater political participation

– The role of men as allies and champions for gender parity

Overall purpose/goal:

The discussion aimed to examine the current state of gender parity in political and leadership positions, identify obstacles to achieving parity, and explore strategies and solutions to accelerate progress toward equal representation of women in positions of power.

Tone:

The tone was primarily serious and analytical, with panelists providing data, personal experiences, and policy recommendations. There were also moments of optimism when discussing progress made in some countries and institutions. The conversation maintained a constructive tone throughout, focusing on solutions and actionable steps to improve gender parity.

Speakers

– Mina Al-Oraibi: Editor of The National, moderator of the panel

РTh̩r̬se Kayikwamba Wagner: Minister of State of Foreign Affairs for the Democratic Republic of Congo

– Catherine De Bolle: Executive Director of Europol

РFran̤ois Val̩rian: Chair of Transparency International

– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra: Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources from Mexico

Additional speakers:

– Mervis: Global Shepherd (audience member who asked a question)

– Chawfa Jamasinghe: Global shaper from Johannesburg (audience member who asked a question)

– Nawal Hosseini: United Arab Emirates Permanent Representative to IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency)

Gender Parity in Political Power: A Comprehensive Discussion

This panel discussion, moderated by Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor of The National, focused on achieving gender parity in political power and decision-making roles globally. The panel brought together diverse perspectives from government, law enforcement, and civil society to examine the current state of gender representation, identify challenges, and propose solutions for accelerating progress towards equal representation.

Current State of Gender Parity

The discussion began by acknowledging the slow progress towards gender parity in politics and leadership positions. Mina Al-Oraibi highlighted that at the current rate, it could take 168 years to reach parity, emphasising the urgent need for accelerated change. Despite this sobering statistic, panellists noted some positive developments:

1. Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources from Mexico, celebrated her country’s recent breakthrough in electing its first woman president in 200 years, describing it as a “paradigm shift”.

2. Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs for the Democratic Republic of Congo, reported an increase in women’s representation in the DRC government from 16% to 33% in 2024.

3. Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, noted that women comprise an average of 30% in EU law enforcement agencies, indicating progress but also highlighting the remaining gap.

4. Mina Al-Oraibi highlighted the UAE’s progress, with women now representing 50% of the Federal National Council.

Challenges and Barriers

The panellists identified several key challenges that women face in accessing political power and leadership roles:

1. Economic Disparities: François Valérian, Chair of Transparency International, pointed out that women generally have fewer financial resources than men, making them more vulnerable to corruption and abuse of power.

2. Higher Scrutiny: Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner noted that women leaders often face higher scrutiny and pressure to perform compared to their male counterparts.

3. Work-Life Balance: Alicia Bárcena Ibarra highlighted the difficulty women face in balancing career and family responsibilities.

4. Male-Dominated Culture: Catherine De Bolle emphasised the persistence of male-dominated cultures and stereotypes in fields like law enforcement.

5. Safety Concerns: De Bolle raised the alarming statistic that one-third of women in the European Union experience some form of abuse, including in police forces. She stressed the importance of creating safe environments for women in law enforcement.

6. Sexual Corruption: François Valérian highlighted the issue of “sextortion,” where sexual favors are demanded in exchange for access to public services or political positions, disproportionately affecting women.

Strategies for Increasing Women’s Participation

The panel discussed various strategies to increase women’s political participation and representation:

1. Quotas and Legal Mechanisms: Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner advocated for implementing quotas and legal mechanisms to ensure women’s representation in political bodies.

2. Economic Empowerment: Alicia Bárcena Ibarra stressed the importance of focusing on women’s economic autonomy and empowerment as a foundation for political participation.

3. Inclusive Work Environments: Catherine De Bolle suggested reviewing recruitment processes and creating more inclusive work environments to attract and retain women in leadership roles. She highlighted Europol’s efforts in this regard, including flexible working hours and mentoring programs.

4. Financial Support: François Valérian proposed providing funding and support specifically for women candidates to level the playing field.

5. Institutional Design: Wagner emphasised the necessity of intentional design in political systems to ensure women’s representation.

6. Male Champions: The panel discussed the importance of men as allies and champions for gender parity in politics and leadership.

7. Diversity Within Gender Representation: In response to an audience question, the panel emphasized the need for diversity among women representatives, considering factors such as age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background.

Impact of Women’s Leadership

The panellists highlighted several positive impacts of increased women’s representation in politics and governance:

1. Peacemaking: Alicia Bárcena Ibarra noted that women often bring more empathy to peacemaking and conflict resolution processes.

2. Diverse Decision-Making: Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner argued that diverse representation leads to better decision-making overall.

3. Addressing Women’s Issues: Mina Al-Oraibi pointed out that women’s participation helps address issues affecting women and children more effectively.

4. Inspiring Future Generations: Bárcena Ibarra emphasised that having women leaders inspires younger generations of women to pursue leadership roles.

Unresolved Issues and Future Directions

The discussion also highlighted several unresolved issues and areas for future focus:

1. Intersectionality: Addressing the intersection of gender with other identities such as race, class, and geography in political representation.

2. Cultural Attitudes: Changing persistent stereotypes and cultural attitudes about women leaders.

3. Private Sector Leadership: Increasing women’s representation in top private sector roles.

4. Sustaining Progress: Maintaining momentum on gender parity without creating backlash.

5. Gender-Disaggregated Data: François Valérian emphasized the need for more comprehensive gender-disaggregated data in research to better understand and address gender disparities.

The panel concluded with calls for specific measures to advance gender parity by 2030, including:

1. Improved laws and policies to support women’s participation in politics.

2. The appointment of a female UN Secretary-General.

3. Increased representation of women in peace negotiations and conflict resolution processes.

4. Greater economic empowerment and autonomy for women.

5. More effective measures to combat violence against women in politics.

An audience member also highlighted the UAE’s dashboard for measuring gender balance in ministries as a potential model for tracking progress.

In summary, the discussion provided a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities in achieving gender parity in political power. It emphasised the need for intentional design, institutional efforts, and a multi-faceted approach addressing economic, cultural, and structural barriers to women’s political participation. The panellists’ diverse perspectives highlighted the global nature of this challenge and the importance of sustained efforts to monitor progress and normalise women in power across all levels of decision-making.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Good morning, and thank you for joining us in this session towards parity in power. I’m Mina al-Arabi, editor of The National, and delighted to be chairing this session about an incredibly important topic. There have been, of course, some markers of progress when it comes to gender parity, but we are nowhere near where we need to be. And really what we want to be discussing today and this morning is how long it will take us to get to gender parity in politics. And of course, politics is a reflection of society, so it affects other issues. But really here we’re talking about power. Over the past 50 years, 49% of economies tracked by the Gender Gap Report produced by the World Economic Forum have been led by women at some point. And there have been some important progress notes. In the past decade, 15.5% of heads of state around the world have been women. In the UAE, where I am based, half of the Federal National Council is actually led by women and we have great representation leading the Middle East, North Africa region. But we have a long way to go globally. At the UN General Assembly last year, under 10% of speakers were women, 19 women in total only 5% heads of state and 3% heads of government. And what we’re seeing in 2024, less than 10% of economies included in the Global Gender Index had women, had reached parity on ministerial level, so had equal numbers of men and women ministerial level. So what we want to see is the global pace of progress improving. If we stay at the rate we’re going now, it will take 168 years to get to parity. And there are too many statistics that I could rattle off, but last year, which was the largest electoral year, we all followed the elections. three times more men were reelected than women elected to office. And it’s important that we think about intent and design, institutional effort put in to get to power parity in all decision making. And I’m delighted that we have a great panel to talk about this. Of course, the conversation here is part of the gender parity work by the World Economic Forum. For those of you joining us online, please use hashtag WEF25 to discuss this conversation with us. This is being live cast also on the World Economic Forum and the National’s channels, as this is a co-production between the National and the World Economic Forum. And I first want to introduce our great panel. And I will start to my immediate left, Catherine D’Abole, who is Executive Director of Europol. Her Excellency, Therese Kayakwamba Wagner, who is Minister of State of Foreign Affairs for the Democratic Republic of Congo. And Francoise Varian, who is Chair of Transparency International. Thank you for being here. Minister, I want to start with you, please. And I want to talk about the role of women’s political representation in shaping the conditions for peaceful and more equitable growth for countries. How important is that parity dynamic?

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner: Well, I come from a country that has been plagued by conflict for decades now. And we see very clearly to what extent women are the backbone of our society. They are the backbone of our resilience in communities. And at the same time, we do see an inequality, if you want, in terms of the responsibilities that they have in this informal sector. And at the same time, the responsibilities that they have when it comes to formalized power through, for example, governments. But at the same time, I’m also from a country that has made a very important leap. We have gone from 16% of women in government to 33% in the government that has been put in place in 2024. And so I think this is a very telling example of to what extent there is a necessity for design, for thinking about systems and making sure that women are duly represented. But at the same time, also for championing those causes and making sure that this goes hand in hand with political will. A lot of these things are not possible without political will. So I think it’s about striking that balance and making sure that the contributions that women make in society and that we benefit of all of us. also have a visibility in the formalized power structures that make sure that we also grow as economies and as societies. And it’s really interesting the way you approach it because there’s the bottom up and the top down and there’s always that conversation about how much do you need this to be formalized and imposed and how much does it have to come out organically. How do you ensure that there is that balance, that you have both, you know, the figures that you gave are really formidable to look at how the DRC has approached this? I think on the one hand, precisely, by nurturing political will, and I think it’s very important to have champions and not to view the issue of parity as a sole struggle only for women. I think it is important to have more men who are also advocates of a more equitable working environment and a more equitable repartition, if you want, or division of labor between men and women and who also are advocates for the added value that women bring to the table, the different ways of addressing certain challenges. So I think it’s mixing this lived experience, if you want, with also very adapted legal mechanisms because at the same time, we also, and I think we represent different regions of the world, we also have to be cognizant of the sociocultural context that we operate in and make sure that we strike the adequate balance to ensure that quotas, for example, or that legal measures that are put in place are conducive and that the environment itself is conducive because it can harm the cause much more to impose quotas, for example, or other measures if they are perceived as a threat. So I think it’s a very delicate balance that requires a lot of also understanding of the local context, but that can benefit also from, you know, exchanges and experiences within regions, but also beyond regions. And I think it’s making sure that you have a diversity of voices that contribute to those reflections and that fuel the political will at the start that needs to be the… igniter, if you want, and make sure that you enrich it from different perspectives.

Mina Al-Oraibi: And part of that, of course, is this idea of mindsets, of thinking through structures, and so I want to turn to you, please, Catherine, about this idea of drawing your experience, of course, in the security sector. What conditions and mindsets are needed to allow for equal measures of power, but also equal measures of protection, because often women need that protection in order to be able to advance in political systems? Yes. Thank you for the question. Good morning to everybody.

Catherine De Bolle: So I am head of a law enforcement agency, and law enforcement is still male-dominated. On average in the European Union, we see that we have 30% of women in most of the law enforcement agencies, which is already a good figure, because I only started in police in 1994, when I was the first on these offices level. So we did take big steps, and we really needed political support and enforcement, in fact, figures in the legislation to have women allowed to take up positions in the security sector, and we also had to change the recruitment mechanisms to make sure that I, for instance, I am not too tall, so they had to adapt a bit the law to make sure that smaller women also can have access to these positions. When we look at women in the European Union, we see that one third of all the women are a victim of abuse, a kind of abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and harassment, and this is something we need to take into account, also in the police forces. So when we talk about women in police, we have to make sure that when they join police forces that they also can live in a safe and secure environment. In my own office a few years ago, we had a colleague that was murdered by her partner. So we live in a police force in a very safe environment, so it was a wake-up call to everybody that nobody is safe, in fact, and that everybody can become a victim. So what we do in our office is we try to make a secure environment, so we did set up a working group and a task force to make sure that when men or women have issues related to violence. They can talk about it, we have personal counsellors to help them and we try to create an environment where they feel safe and where everybody feels free to talk about issues they are confronted with. When we look at our mission as a law enforcement agency, in our legal framework, of course, we have the responsibility to take care of women becoming victim of exploitation. So we have a lot of misery in-house and we have to deal with that, but we always try to do it with a positive perspective from the human side and we always try to find answers for victims. That is why it is very important to have diversity and inclusion in our mission statement and that everybody understands that you need to be a human to treat a human. And it’s not about figures, it’s about human beings. And we need to provide victims with answers, that is the mission, in fact, we stand for. That human element of making people feel that they are safe and that they are protected, but also that this is not just a bureaucratic endeavour, because sometimes some of these can become an exercise in either ticking a box or saying, yes, we’ve got this. So how do you create that safe environment where people feel that they can, or women feel that they can speak? In the beginning it was a bit difficult because we had to take the decision top down that diversity and inclusion is the core issue of our business, of our agency. And then we did set up working groups with men and women to reflect on it and now we work bottom up. So we have different teams in the organisation and they discuss, in fact, about what do we need to do in the organisation to make sure that we create a safe environment and every manager has the obligation to put this in the action plan and in the strategic development of the different departments and is evaluated on that. So I must say we talk about it, also with the recruitment of new people, it’s part of the recruitment. We went through all our vacancy notices to see that is diversity and inclusion included in the vacancy notice and how will we go through the recruitment process to make sure that we recruit the right people. It’s not a one step exercise, it takes some time to get there, but we already do it now for four or five years and I must say that we have this safe environment. We have a lot of men being confidential counsellors, they are very active in the organisation. We also invested in nurses, we will invest soon in psychologists to make sure that we have professionals, but the most important or the experience we had with our colleague that was murdered was in fact that she did not dare to talk about the issues she was confronted with and she talked to one person, but this person did not feel comfortable to go and to talk about it with other people. So we really took this on board to get the right lessons out of that and to make sure that everybody feels safe to talk about it and then as an organisation we have the obligation to try to find a solution and to help her in how to deal with the local authorities, with the police, with the social sector and how to find a solution to a problem.

Mina Al-Oraibi: And what you’ve highlighted is how multi-faceted these issues are, community, organization, feeling of safety. Francois, I want to turn to you because, of course, corruption has a harmful effect also on women’s access to opportunities, not only in terms of safety, but also resource and opportunities to progress, especially when we’re talking about power dynamics and political dynamics. So how can community-led initiatives help to kind of disrupt some of this corruption, but also foster a more equitable approach to let women have access to political power? Well, thank you very much, Mina, for this question.

François Valérian: And thank you for inviting men to this conversation because, as Her Excellency was saying, we also need to mobilize men in this fight and I think we will have the opportunity to come back to that. So where do we start from in terms of the anti-corruption fight to achieve parity of power between women and men? As Her Excellency said, and also Mrs. Catherine de Bolles, women are in a situation in most countries where they have, in average, much less financial resources than men and they are more exposed than men to the state or local governmental power because they need access to basic services, water, health, education, so that they are more exposed to the potential abuses of power, to the potential corruption. And since they have less financial resources and since power is very much male-dominated, they are also much more exposed to becoming victims of what we call sextortion, but what has to be called probably sexual corruption. And, you know, I started with Transparency International 15 years ago and at that time… almost nobody was speaking about sexual corruption. Now it’s really one of our major issues to fight against that, and it’s, well, according to our research, it is extremely pervasive and still underestimated. So that’s on the daily basis. But also in extraordinary circumstances, or in circumstances such as wars and conflicts, but I’m also thinking of climate catastrophes. I’m thinking of Pakistan, where there were those floods a few years ago, and still there are women with their children and they do not receive the aid needed. And in a number of instances, men have left. So you have the women with the children and they have nothing to live with. So it’s very important that we address this abuse of power with women being victims of those abuse of power. And the response to that is obviously to achieve parity in power. So that we are active at the community level, and in many countries we have what we call the ALAC, so Anti-Corruption Legal Advisory Centers, which are mobile ALACs, so we are reaching out to local communities. And in these local communities, very often the men are the ones who speak. And our people on the field, they are trying to empower women so that these women are asking for their rights and they are also speaking up. And we also have, and that’s a point that was raised by Catherine, gender sensitive reporting channels, so that also women are talking to women, women are listening to women, so that they feel safer to express their, well, to tell about the abuses they were victims of. So that’s at community level. Now we have the whole issue of elections. So maybe you want me to comment on that and work on that. So I’m not an expert in elections, and some people on the panel may be more expert than me. But the observation of our chapters worldwide. is that obviously politics is very much, well, men-dominated, and not only men-dominated, but dominated by a male model of physical strength, patronage, big muscles, et cetera, et cetera. Not sure we got rid of that model yet, but so we have these elections, and we are campaigning for women to be empowered by the governments to run, so that there are funds dedicated to help them, because women need more money than men to run. First, they have less money, and second, they need more money because they are outsiders, they need more efforts to convince people that they are to be trusted, and they also need money for their safety in many countries, so that’s very important for them to be empowered so that we can achieve disparity in power.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Thank you. Just on this point of the money-raising is also a problem, of course, of corruption and the possibility of, I mean, extortion almost, and so do you find that women are more vulnerable when they could be manipulated on this issue since their resources are less?

François Valérian: Oh, definitely. Do you track that? Definitely, definitely. They are more vulnerable, and it’s clearly an issue of all countries, because we don’t want to feel that it’s only a Global South issue. In my home country, in France, in most countries, it is an issue. So clearly, women are more vulnerable to extortion when it comes to trying to share something of the power that is exercised at national or local level. I’m delighted that we have Her Excellency, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources from Mexico, Alicia Barcena-Ebarra. Thank you for joining us.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Minister, I want to ask you what different steps or measures stakeholders in the public, but also in the private sector, can take to close the political…

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra: Well, thank you so much, and it’s a pleasure to be here with you and with this fantastic panel. I wanted to say, the first thing I want to say is that in Mexico we have a powerful breakthrough. It’s the first time in 200 years that we have a woman president, and this is tremendous, because it changes the whole, it’s a paradigm shift altogether. So, closing the political gap, I mean, it’s very much connected to, from my perspective, to building up the economic autonomy of women. When women have economic autonomy, it’s easier for them to participate in many fronts, because when they are dependent on economic terms, that’s when they fall into corruption or dependency or even, you know, they are abused in many ways. So, from my perspective, the first thing we need to achieve is economic autonomy, parity on economic terms. For example, in Mexico, we still don’t have that parity in salaries. We have to achieve it. But there has been a lot of advances in many fronts. Politically now, in Mexico, there is a law that has to guarantee that 50% of the Congress has to be by women. Women have to be in Congress, 50%. If there’s no 50%, for example, if there’s a male candidate – sorry for that – that won, but the next one is a woman, and in order to achieve parity, then the woman takes the seat. And this is, I would say, this has been a positive law and assertive way, a mechanism to achieve parity. But the other part is the Supreme Court is also led by women and also the central bank. So, it has been really a total shift from a very, I would say, machista society – I don’t know how to translate that – a male-oriented society in Mexico. Can you imagine the guns and everything? You know, and the movies are very clear on that. But then there has been such a shift, such a change in the mentality. Now little girls say, what do you want to be in the future? President, never before, honestly. So this is something that politically has made a lot of a difference. Socially also, the president, the Mexican president has been very, very assertive and very positive in creating policies to help women at all fronts. Because one of the main things that I think we have to achieve, for example, women don’t have access to property rights in terms of land, for example, in many places, indigenous people. So we have to make so many things to make sure that women have access to finance, to political participation, to social participation. And it has to be done, there has to be political will. It’s not gonna be automatic. This is not automatic at all. And that’s why it’s so important that in the police or in the security arena, you have women. In the political arena, you have women. Now in the private sector, we are lagging behind. And I think it’s not only Mexico, I think it’s the world. Because we do have a lot of women in the private sector, but at lower levels. It’s not really yet, let’s say, the direction or the decision makers that are at the top in the private sector. Once I made a question to a company, Starbucks, and I said to him, to the CEO in Latin America, I said to him, how many women do work in Starbucks? He didn’t know, he didn’t know at all. Okay, then he went back and came back and said, no, more than 60% women are working in Starbucks. And I said, okay, how many in the decision making? He didn’t know, he went again and came back and said, well, I think there we have a problem, it’s like 20%. That’s the problem. So we need to engage in a different way with the private sector to make sure that women are also able to reach the top. Because otherwise, we have to break the crystal ceiling. I think this is what we need. I mean, the point of, of course, the private sector capability

Mina Al-Oraibi: and reaching managerial level is tied into economic empowerment that then allows women to have more of a political role. And I wanted to ask you, you spoke about the mindset change and congratulations on the election of your president. What do you think was instrumental in making that change and getting people to accept? And if I can follow with that, do you worry that there can also be a backlash? Because sometimes what we see when there’s this progressive step, there can be a backlash from those that feel that they may have lost out as a result. Absolutely. And that’s why, I mean, what she has gained,

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra: I mean, it was very difficult. Actually, she got the majority of votes, 35 million votes, which was historic in Mexico. And I think it has to do with the connection and the empathy at the local level, you know. But she has a double work, because it’s not like naturally accepted. So she has to do even better than men in many fronts to demonstrate that it’s possible. So the challenge is there. She only has four months. But still, you know, she got 85% of approval in these four months. And I think that’s tremendous. But the challenge is there, because men are just what men and the whole society is watching. And many times for women, it’s more difficult, because you have a double checking, you know. And also, you have the care, the care work that you have to do domestically, you know. You have to work. And then the other third of your day, you have to be in charge of your house. Unfortunately, that’s still the case. I mean, men are fantastic. I have to say that in my case, I’m very fortunate. But you have to still look after the children, and the schooling, and this, and everything. So even the president, you know, there was one, one, one. Unfortunately, one man from the news asked her, well, but you are a housewife to her. She said, you are a president, but you still are a housewife. And she said, well, that’s my privilege, and it’s an honor for me to be a housewife and at the same time to be a president. But he was challenging her, you know? This is the problem. There’s still that mentality that women are not capable.

Mina Al-Oraibi: And often the mentality, by the way, is not restricted to men. There are many conservative women who actually question. Is that even worse?

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra: Yeah, and it does. It feels worse when it comes from women. You remember Madeleine Albright when she said there will be a place in hell for those women that do not help other women? That’s the case.

Mina Al-Oraibi: I want to open the floor if there are any questions. In this conversation, we can keep going for the opportunity. If there’s anyone who has a question they’d like to ask, please indicate to me. But meanwhile, we will keep our conversation. I want to turn back to you, Ms. Nbole, about being the first woman to serve as Belgium’s police commissioner. And you said you were also the first officer in the changes. You know, how do these institutional changes get sustained? Because sometimes what happens is that we see that, but then again, it doesn’t continue. How do you ensure that it gets sustained?

Catherine De Bolle: Yes, it’s really a job. Because I completely agree with what you said, Madam Minister. You really have to have a plan. How do I attract women? How will I get more women in the office? And how to recruit them? I remember that I, as general commissioner, I took a decision that I wanted to have half of the selection committees to be women. The unions did not accept, because I used the term women. I had to say the other gender. and I could only use 30%, so I changed that. And then we had women in the selection committees, and they all say a selection is objective, but it’s also kind of subjective. And the evaluation of a woman towards a candidate is a bit different than the evaluation of a man towards a candidate. So that was a first step. So we did install, because I had the opportunity then to have two ministers, women, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Interior, so the three of us, we really developed an action plan, how to attract women to the office. After two, three years, we said we are there. We have a lot of women candidates for the police force, so now we can be a bit more quiet, and we accept we are there. And then when we stopped monitoring the situation, the figures went down. So you have to, all the time you have to monitor, in fact, what is your global goal, what do you want to reach, and how will I get there? And you really have your evaluation moments, and you need them. So we did set up recruitment campaigns and everything to attract women. But I see the same in my office now at Europol. I became the director of Europol. The former directors were men. The family joined, because we are all experts. We live in The Hague. They joined their husband, because he was then the director. I’m alone. My family is still in Belgium, and because my husband also has a job, and the children did not want to join me. And I see this is the case with a lot of women, and that is what hindering also women to come to an international organization and to work for an international organization, because the man has also his career, and he does not want to give up on that. There are women that are accompanied, but not all of the women, and I don’t see this with men. So it is still an issue to get there, and you need to have your figures right, and then you need to implement and review, in fact, all the processes you have in your organization. Everything needs to be checked. Is it striving for parity, and is it diverse enough, and do we have enough measures in place to make sure that we are an attractive employer for women? We don’t have the issue of salaries. Everybody is paid in an equal way, which is very important. And also in the management, I can see now that we have more women, but it’s also leading by example. And when I first started, I really had to know my files very well, because I remember we had 30 commissioners, I was the only woman. When I took the floor and I made a mistake, next meeting everybody remembered my mistake. But the mistakes made by men, nobody remembered them, because there were too many. So, in the beginning, it was not always easy going. So, and I still do this today, I think we are like that, you want to be good, you want to be best, you want to be prepared all the time, but you have to believe in yourself at one moment in time,

Mina Al-Oraibi: we are good and we can do it. And the point of measurement is so important, what you assessed. I mean, in your question, asking a manager and saying, how many women do you have, and not even being aware as a CEO level is quite telling. And I think that’s why actually the work genuinely of the forum and measuring and having the global gender report coming out every year, but also the different tracks within that is so important, because it reminds everybody and makes sure that they’re held to account. We do have a question from the audience, I want to, and then I’ll come back. But if we could just get the mic to you so that we capture the audio. So, just give us one moment, we’ll get you the mic. And then I’ll come back to the panel. Yes, please. Good morning. Good morning. I think I’ll speak, so it’s okay? Okay, very good.

Audience: My name is Mervis, I’m actually a Global Shepherd. And yeah, I have a question. She just mentioned something very important. Most of our ministers and people who are actually elected as ladies, who are actually taking power, I’ll say right now, there is a pressure into performing. That is actually from different society. We expect them to perform differently. As she said, whenever you make a mistake, you either condemn the entire other generation that’s coming after you. So, is that pressure of performing cannot lead you to make a mistake again?

Mina Al-Oraibi: That’s my question. Thank you. Okay, so the pressure of performance. Your Excellency, do you want to take that?

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner: Yeah, I mean, it is a reality and I fully concur with what was said previously from all colleagues because there is just a much higher level of scrutiny when you’re a woman. I think depending on which society you are in, there are other layers of your personality that are additional filters if you want. It can be age, it can be community, it can be religion. And so everything weighs further on the scrutiny that you’re exposed to. And I think even when we think about how to ensure women have greater access to positions of power, it’s very important to integrate an incremental approach. When we hear the important milestones that were passed in Mexico, this is certainly not a shift that happened from one day to another, right? It might be perceived by some that way, it might be seen by some that way. And when we also hear how much effort it takes to change a structure like Europol, then we understand that it is an incremental approach. Even if at the end we see the big result, there is consistency in monitoring, there is consistency in asking questions, there is consistency in having numbers, but there is also consistency in making mistakes. And I think this is something that needs to be normalized, both for women and men. I think men have normalized making mistakes. They have kind of like inherently normalized it. But for women, I think it’s important to give yourself that grace, that it is part of a process, both as an individual. So when I consider my progression as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a government that has, for the first time in our country, so many women, that for the first time in our country has a Prime Minister. Women also leading very strategic portfolios, environment, national education, foreign affairs. I think it’s important to give yourself that grace of saying there will be mistakes. There have always been mistakes in this area. You’re not the first one. And so you learn from mistakes, right? And at the same time, also embedding in our reflection of how to progress towards more parity, embedding the necessity of making mistakes to learn. And this is something that we somehow fail to normalize or that we seem to individualize when it happens under certain circumstances or when it happens to specific people, for example, to women, but also maybe other groups. And so I think there’s also just that inherent struggle to make sure that changing societies, changing mindsets inherently goes hand in hand with making mistakes and with learning. It is a process where you learn. The big mistake that we have made so far is excluding women and we’re learning from that mistake day to day and we’re trying to fix that mistake, right? So I think it’s also important to give yourself that grace of saying it is an incremental approach. It will require consistency in efforts. Sometimes the results will seem big and grand and seem that it came out of nowhere, but it’s actually the result. And we stand on the shoulders of all the women who came before us and of all the men also who came before us and who paved the way. And I think this is something that sometimes gets missing, that goes missing, especially when you have coverage that focuses on the big story, a woman who is occupying this position and it seems like it came out of nowhere. It didn’t, it’s a continuous effort and it’s an effort within communities,

Mina Al-Oraibi: but also across communities and continents. Mr. Valiant, I wanted to bring you in because there’s the point that we’re talking about having champions, also men that are not only opening the doors so much, but also being champions. So how do you find that, again, can be done institutionally and especially when it comes to issues of governance? Well, first of all, it is very important for men that we get rid of this machista culture, as you were saying, because it is also liberation for men,

François Valérian: for many men, for me, because this model of the strong man power in companies, in politics, has been and still is extremely prevalent. I’m 60 years old. In the France of the 1970s, 1980s, it was the prevalent model and still is in many instances. So it is also liberation for men, and it is a cultural fight that we are waging here. So that’s very important. Now, institutionally, what are we doing? We are reviewing all our 100 national chapters every three years on their accreditation. One of the criteria is that the board of those chapters achieves parity. And now, it’s fortunate, it shows that we make some progress. There are a few countries where we have the reverse problems. So we have only women in the board, so we are trying to explain then that they have to attract men, and there are men who are saying, oh, you only have women, and you are in some countries, so it’s not for us, et cetera. But in most instances, obviously, we have more men than women, and we are trying to achieve parity in those chapters. And now, at the global level, so we have an international board, we achieved parity a few years ago, so we had as many women as men. Now, unfortunately, we are back down to more men than women, and we are trying to convince women that they can run for elections. We have the same problems. No, I can’t do that because I have to run my chapter. I have my family, I have my kids, but yes, they can do it. And our vice chair, the vice chair of Transparency International, Keira Fitoson, is a very courageous human rights defender in Madagascar. She has four kids, she has a husband, and she’s the general manager of Publish What You Pay, and she’s the vice chair of Transparency International. And globally, we are. two women and the men to run this movement because we, as of February 1st, we will also have a chief executive officer who is a Brazilian woman, Mayra Martini, and I’m a man, but over the first 30 years of existence of Transparency International, we’ve had as a chair position, a man, a woman, a man, a woman, now a man, so. I mean, your point about liberation of men

Mina Al-Oraibi: is really interesting. It’s liberation of society where we don’t have to be hung up on it, but there’s also the point that, and I see this even sometimes with my colleagues, where actually there is a certain sector of, frankly, white, middle-aged men that now feel that they’re left out or won’t put themselves up for certain things because they feel like, oh, we’ve had all these years of representation, we’ll pull ourselves back, and I think we also have to be aware of that because you don’t want to create a dynamic where you find a section of society now feels that they have to make an active effort not to be included, so it’s a very delicate balance. Your Excellency, I wanted to ask if I can, we have a men’s day at Europol. Oh, interesting.

Catherine De Bolle: To put the men at front, because we had this discussion that we did put too much focus on women

Mina Al-Oraibi: and how to give possibilities to women to enhance their career, so we have a men’s day. I want to ask about, of course, we have two great ministers on this panel, and I want to ask about geopolitics and in the geopolitical arena, the dynamic of making sure that there is this conversation about gender parity, but also thinking about how we can have a less divisive, perhaps, global context than we have at the moment and the role that women can play with that, so if I can start with you, please, on that.

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra: Well, thank you so much. Before being Minister of Environment, I was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and I have to say that, and in the UN, my experience has been that women have more empathy in terms of peacemaking, peacebuilding, and both talents are necessary. I believe very much that parity is what we want. We don’t want also only women or only men. I think we need both. And because there is complementary visions in many ways, as particularly in peacemaking, peace building, I really believe the intervention of women is extremely important to build the empathy also to help other women that are the ones who suffer the most in the wars that we are living through. You can see what’s happening around the world. Women are more vulnerable in many ways with children too. So you do need this mix. So my belief is that we definitely need parity. Not more women or more men, but we need parity. And in some positions, for example, in terms of security, as you were saying, I think women do need to be there. Definitely. In the military, for example, or in the, as I said, in the peacemakers or peace builders, we need women. And Clea. I fully agree with that. I fully agree with that.

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner: And this is something, again, to bring it to the context of the DRC that we see, but where we also see that there is a need to make sure that we have that parity at all levels. And so very often you will find an inclusion of women, but at the grassroots level. So for instance, I’ve been representing my country in peace talks with one of our neighboring countries, and I find myself the only woman in the room. The only woman. And this is the design, if you want, of a peace process. And this is, and I’m, if you want, just a coincidence. It is a coincidence that I happen to be a woman and to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs. And so there’s also a need to think about how do we make sure that this is a cross-cutting approach and not just women at the local level who then have to assume, if you want, and have to own what is decided at the top level. How do we make sure that women are included in decision-making, in negotiating peace at the top level to make sure that their concerns that they will have to deal with at the bottom level are taken into account in the design of finding peace? This is a big challenge that we have to make sure that we strike that balance. And I think one very important starting point also as ex-UN is also seeing how our international organizations reflect that. After decades, over 70 years of the United Nations, we still have yet to have a woman Secretary General. And I think all our eyes are shifting towards Latin America because of the geographic rotation, because of the next Secretary General, with a lot of expectations that, you know, a continent that has distinguished itself with so many women that have assumed positions of leadership will also help us achieve that important milestone.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Right, I’ve got two questions from the audience, but let’s please make your questions really brief. The lady here, and then the lady in the front.

Audience: Hello, my name is Chawfa Jamasinghe. I’m a global shaper from Johannesburg. So my question is around the fact that a lot of the times when we speak about women, we assume a universal female experience. And I think, you know, it’s shaped by a lot of intersecting identities across class, race, geography, ability. And, you know, you spoke about the quotas. And so what sort of policy approaches are being taken to ensure that those intersecting identities are sort of accounted for in terms of making sure that we are including those different identities of women? And also just… Sorry. Sure, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for this very, very impressive panel. I don’t have a question, I just have a small intervention and just sharing an experience. My name is Nawal Hosseini. I’m the United Arab Emirates Permit Representative to IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency. I also have a role with the UAE government. And one of the things that we do at the UAE government is we measure the performance of all ministers. And we have a dashboard. So one of the KPIs that we are measured against is the gender balance at the leadership level. And our ministry, we are amber. Not because we have… but because we have more women, so we are umber because we are actually not performing very well in the gender balance. But the other thing that I have seen, you mentioned that you are in a male-dominated sector. I just don’t know which sector is not male-dominated, because in science, in engineering, in law, in military, in politics, this has never been the case. And one last point, sometimes we are really hard on ourselves than the society because I know two of our ministers actually went back to work just after one week of giving birth because they didn’t want to be perceived that they are taking too much time. So sometimes we get to be really, really harsh on ourselves because we want to overperform. So thank you very much, Mila, for this amazing moderation.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Thank you. If you can please address the question about representation of different identities.

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra: You know, I think that you made a very important point, and that is diversity. Because at the end of the day, it’s not only about gender parity, but it’s really about diversity within gender, of course. And all, you know, even LGBT, all these letters that I don’t know them all, but you see, we need diversity. That’s what we need. The more diverse is the society, the better. So it’s gender parity indeed, but diversity within.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Okay, we’ve sadly run out of time. I’m going to ask you each with one word to tell me what’s one measure or milestone you want to see by 2030 to get us towards parity in political structures and politics. So one word.

Catherine De Bolle: Law.

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner: A female UN Secretary General.

Mina Al-Oraibi: I love that.

François Valérian: Gender disaggregated data in all research on this topic.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Absolutely.

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra: Justice.

Mina Al-Oraibi: Wonderful. Great words to take with you. I can’t conclude better than to say, of course, community measurement, UN Secretary General, security, liberation for men and women, also balance and diversity. We don’t want to exclude anyone. Thank you all for tuning in. And please thank our amazing panel.

Agreement Points

Need for increased women’s representation in politics and leadership

speakers

– Mina Al-Oraibi
– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
РTh̩r̬se Kayikwamba Wagner
– Catherine De Bolle

arguments

Progress has been made but still far from parity

Mexico achieved breakthrough with first woman president

DRC increased women in government from 16% to 33%

Only 30% women on average in EU law enforcement

summary

All speakers agreed that while progress has been made in women’s representation in politics and leadership, there is still a significant gap to achieve parity.

Importance of institutional changes and legal mechanisms

speakers

РTh̩r̬se Kayikwamba Wagner
– Catherine De Bolle
РFran̤ois Val̩rian

arguments

Implement quotas and legal mechanisms to ensure representation

Review recruitment processes and create inclusive work environments

Provide funding and support for women candidates

summary

Speakers agreed on the need for institutional changes, including quotas, legal mechanisms, and supportive policies to increase women’s participation in politics and leadership roles.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of economic empowerment for women’s political participation and protection against corruption.

speakers

– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
РFran̤ois Val̩rian

arguments

Focus on economic autonomy and empowerment of women

Women have less financial resources and are more exposed to corruption

Both speakers highlighted the positive impact of women’s participation in decision-making processes, particularly in areas such as peacemaking and conflict resolution.

speakers

– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
РTh̩r̬se Kayikwamba Wagner

arguments

Women bring more empathy to peacemaking and conflict resolution

Diverse representation leads to better decision-making

Unexpected Consensus

Challenges faced by women in leadership positions

speakers

РTh̩r̬se Kayikwamba Wagner
– Catherine De Bolle

arguments

Higher scrutiny and pressure to perform for women leaders

Male-dominated culture and stereotypes persist

explanation

Despite coming from different sectors (politics and law enforcement), both speakers highlighted similar challenges faced by women in leadership positions, indicating that these issues persist across various fields.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The speakers generally agreed on the need for increased women’s representation in politics and leadership, the importance of institutional changes and legal mechanisms to support this, and the positive impact of women’s participation in decision-making processes.

Consensus level

There was a high level of consensus among the speakers on the main issues discussed. This strong agreement suggests a shared understanding of the challenges and potential solutions for achieving gender parity in politics and power structures. The consensus implies that there is a clear direction for policy-makers and organizations to follow in order to address the gender gap in political representation and leadership roles.

Different Viewpoints

Approach to achieving gender parity

speakers

– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
РTh̩r̬se Kayikwamba Wagner

arguments

Focus on economic autonomy and empowerment of women

Implement quotas and legal mechanisms to ensure representation

summary

While Bárcena Ibarra emphasizes economic empowerment as a key to achieving gender parity, Wagner focuses on implementing quotas and legal mechanisms to ensure representation.

Unexpected Differences

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement were primarily in the approach to achieving gender parity, with some speakers emphasizing economic empowerment, others focusing on legal mechanisms, and some highlighting workplace-specific changes.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers was relatively low. Most speakers agreed on the overall goal of achieving gender parity in politics and power structures, but had slightly different emphases on how to achieve this goal. This low level of disagreement suggests a general consensus on the importance of the issue and the need for action, which could be beneficial for advancing policies and initiatives to promote gender parity.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need to empower women, but Bárcena Ibarra focuses on broader economic empowerment, while De Bolle emphasizes specific workplace changes and recruitment processes.

speakers

– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
– Catherine De Bolle

arguments

Focus on economic autonomy and empowerment of women

Review recruitment processes and create inclusive work environments

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of economic empowerment for women’s political participation and protection against corruption.

speakers

– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
РFran̤ois Val̩rian

arguments

Focus on economic autonomy and empowerment of women

Women have less financial resources and are more exposed to corruption

Both speakers highlighted the positive impact of women’s participation in decision-making processes, particularly in areas such as peacemaking and conflict resolution.

speakers

– Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
РTh̩r̬se Kayikwamba Wagner

arguments

Women bring more empathy to peacemaking and conflict resolution

Diverse representation leads to better decision-making

Key Takeaways

While progress has been made on gender parity in politics, significant gaps remain globally

Women face unique challenges in politics including lack of resources, higher scrutiny, and balancing family responsibilities

Quotas, legal mechanisms, and institutional changes are needed to increase women’s political participation

Women’s leadership can bring valuable perspectives to areas like peacemaking and conflict resolution

Economic empowerment of women is crucial for increasing their political participation

Diversity and inclusion efforts need to be ongoing and consistently monitored to be effective

Resolutions and Action Items

Implement and enforce quotas for women’s representation in political bodies

Review recruitment processes and workplace policies to create more inclusive environments

Provide funding and support specifically for women candidates

Collect and analyze gender-disaggregated data to track progress

Focus on building economic autonomy for women

Unresolved Issues

How to address intersectionality and ensure diverse representation among women in politics

Ways to change persistent cultural attitudes and stereotypes about women leaders

Strategies to increase women’s representation in top private sector leadership roles

How to maintain progress on gender parity without creating backlash

Suggested Compromises

Aim for gender parity rather than female dominance in political structures

Balance top-down policy changes with grassroots community efforts

Include both men and women as champions for gender parity initiatives

We have gone from 16% of women in government to 33% in the government that has been put in place in 2024. And so I think this is a very telling example of to what extent there is a necessity for design, for thinking about systems and making sure that women are duly represented.

speaker

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner

reason

This comment highlights the importance of intentional design and systemic changes to increase women’s representation in government.

impact

It shifted the conversation to focus on the need for deliberate policy measures and structural changes to achieve gender parity in politics.

When we look at women in the European Union, we see that one third of all the women are a victim of abuse, a kind of abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and harassment, and this is something we need to take into account, also in the police forces.

speaker

Catherine De Bolle

reason

This comment brought attention to the pervasive issue of abuse against women, even within institutions meant to protect them.

impact

It broadened the discussion to include the importance of creating safe environments for women in all sectors, including law enforcement.

Women are in a situation in most countries where they have, in average, much less financial resources than men and they are more exposed than men to the state or local governmental power because they need access to basic services, water, health, education, so that they are more exposed to the potential abuses of power, to the potential corruption.

speaker

François Valérian

reason

This comment highlighted the economic disparities and vulnerabilities that make women more susceptible to corruption and abuse of power.

impact

It deepened the conversation by connecting economic inequality to political disempowerment and corruption, emphasizing the need for a multi-faceted approach to achieving gender parity.

In Mexico we have a powerful breakthrough. It’s the first time in 200 years that we have a woman president, and this is tremendous, because it changes the whole, it’s a paradigm shift altogether.

speaker

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra

reason

This comment underscores the transformative impact of having a woman in the highest political office.

impact

It shifted the discussion to consider the broader societal changes that can occur when women achieve high-level political positions, including changes in public perception and aspirations.

After decades, over 70 years of the United Nations, we still have yet to have a woman Secretary General. And I think all our eyes are shifting towards Latin America because of the geographic rotation, because of the next Secretary General, with a lot of expectations that, you know, a continent that has distinguished itself with so many women that have assumed positions of leadership will also help us achieve that important milestone.

speaker

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner

reason

This comment highlights the ongoing lack of female representation at the highest levels of international organizations and the potential for change.

impact

It broadened the discussion to include global governance structures and the importance of representation in international bodies, not just national politics.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by highlighting the multifaceted nature of achieving gender parity in politics. The conversation moved from discussing specific policy measures and institutional changes to broader societal shifts and global representation. The speakers emphasized the interconnectedness of economic empowerment, safety, and political representation, while also highlighting the transformative impact of women in leadership positions. The discussion underscored the need for intentional design in systems and policies, as well as the importance of addressing underlying issues such as economic inequality and abuse to truly achieve parity in power.

How to ensure women have access to finance and property rights?

speaker

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra

explanation

This is crucial for building economic autonomy, which enables greater political participation.

How to increase women’s representation in top decision-making roles in the private sector?

speaker

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra

explanation

While progress has been made in politics, the private sector still lags behind in having women in leadership positions.

How to address the issue of women being more vulnerable to extortion when trying to enter politics?

speaker

François Valérian

explanation

This vulnerability stems from women having fewer financial resources and being more exposed to potential abuses of power.

How to create gender-sensitive reporting channels for abuse and corruption?

speaker

François Valérian

explanation

This is important to ensure women feel safe reporting abuses they have experienced.

How to sustain institutional changes that promote gender parity?

speaker

Mina Al-Oraibi

explanation

Ensuring that progress in gender representation is maintained over time is crucial for long-term change.

How to normalize making mistakes for women in leadership positions?

speaker

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner

explanation

This is important to reduce the pressure on women to perform perfectly and allow for learning and growth.

How to ensure women are included in decision-making at all levels of peace processes?

speaker

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner

explanation

Women are often included only at grassroots levels, but need to be involved in high-level negotiations as well.

What policy approaches can ensure intersecting identities (class, race, geography, ability) are accounted for in gender representation?

speaker

Audience member (Chawfa Jamasinghe)

explanation

This is important to avoid assuming a universal female experience and ensure true diversity in representation.