10 Statistics about Women from the World Economic Forum

Over 2,500 leader heads of state, politicians, business and technology leaders, and journalists descend on the Swiss mountain town of Davos for the annual World Economic Forum themed as “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.  The 46th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is having Women participation as low as 18%. There is no time to waste.

Let’s have a sneak peak on 10 Statistics about Women from the World Economic Forum:

• The World Economic Forum witnessed just 18 per cent of the delegates women. Davos cheers to the 1 per cent increase than last year, but it's still shockingly low proportion compared to a grant equal number of invites for women.

• The WEF has implemented a quota to ensure that 20 percent of senior business executives from partner companies attending the event are women and event co-chairs were evenly divided along gender lines for the 2016 forum.
• A study released at the end of 2015 found that the number of women leading S&P 500 companies dropped from 25 in 2014 to 21 in 2015 — that’s only 4.2 percent female representation, which makes Davos’ 18 percent of attendees look high, Fortune reports.
• The WEF’s own research shows that even while more women than ever are joining the global work force, pay inequality still persists with women earning less than men.
• This equation is stable despite a gender quota started in 2011 to try and improve diversity, requiring corporations to bring one women for every four men who attend.

• It’s learnt that corporations are likely having a tough job to find suitable candidates, because women are consistently under-represented at the top levels of senior management and governance.
• When it was revealed by Oxfam that 62 people have as much wealth as half the world's population, only 9 of them were women.
• Less than 10 per cent of directors of FTSE 100 companies are women. There are only 13 female heads of state, and only 22 per cent of all national parliamentarians are female.
• Barri Rafferty, CEO of Ketchum North America, described Davos as a "barometer" for how women are doing in top roles at corporations, politics and NGOs. But also, at the evening events, people often assume she is someone's wife, which doesn't look good on the barometer, she told Fortune.

Women at World Economic Forum

• One of the greatest barriers to getting more women into senior roles is lack of access to the networks and the conversations that help shape the world - at places like Davos.