Most international financial institutions (IFIs) agree that women’s leadership in crucial in shaping global development. Yet, though progress has been made, the IFIs themselves have much work left to do. CGD research has found that not a single IFI has reached gender parity in leadership. Only two IFIs have ever had women chief executives and the share of women in senior management roles ranges between 6 and 45 percent across the seven major IFIs.

In 2023, the team gathered concrete data to examine trends in women’s leadership at IFIs and used qualitative work to identify both the obstacles that still need to be overcome to ensure women’s representation in high-level positions and the levers that have facilitated progress. Through these analyses of qualitative and quantitative data. as well as through engagement in the public discourse (e.g. via events, blogs, and podcasts) the team has established CGD as a platform for work on women in leadership at IFIs.

The project seeks to help IFIs expand on their existing important initiatives -- like formulating gender strategies and establishing DEI offices -- to walking the talk by reaching gender parity in their own workplaces.