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.
Advisory Group
CGD’s Advisory Group on Women’s Leadership at IFIs is building on CGD’s 2023 research to further explore this critical topic. The Advisory Group, comprised of leaders from IFIs, research institutions, and the private sector, is working to identify what works, what doesn’t, and to propose actionable recommendations to elevate women’s leadership at IFIs.
From 2025-26, CGD and our Advisory Group aim to advance this agenda by:
- Collecting additional quantitative disaggregated data (i.e. by sector and role) to debunk prevailing myths and to demonstrate the measurable benefits of women in leadership roles;
- Building qualitative insights on how best to support internal institutional change at the IFIs through targeted consultations with key stakeholders; and
- Sharing recommendations which build the meritocratic case for gender equality in managerial roles at IFIs and identify HR actions that promote progress towards such equality.
The members of the Advisory Group include:
- Alexia Latortue
- Annette Dixon
- Caren Grown
- Caroline Anstey
- Kalpana Kochhar
- Masood Ahmed
- Tamar Atinc
The recommendations developed by CGD and the Advisory Group will be critical to retain and consolidate progress already made by women at IFIs and to chart a path towards gender parity – an essential step for more effective, inclusive, and equitable global economic governance.
