## Gender Diversity in the Executive Board—2024 Report to the Board of Governors ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [Gender Diversity in the Executive Board—2024 Report to the Board of Governors](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/pp/2024/english/ppea2024006.pdf) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/-/media/files/publications/pp/2024/english/ppea2024006.pdf.md) - [Structured JSON version](/-/media/files/publications/pp/2024/english/ppea2024006.pdf.json) --- ### Mandate and context - The report was prepared by the Executive Board Working Group on Gender Diversity (Co-Chairs: Elizabeth Shortino and Daniel Palotai) and IMF staff Elena Michaels, Emelie Mannefred, and Erica Anderson; completed on April 5, 2024. - The report was presented to the Executive Board in an informal session on March 28, 2024, and transmitted to the IMF Board of Governors on April 11, 2024. - The IMFC Fall 2023 Chair’s Statement called for voluntary medium-term objectives to raise the number of women holding leadership positions at the Board. ### Current gender profile and comparative position - Current share of women (data as of March 2024): - Executive Director: 3 out of 24 - Alternate Executive Director: 4 out of 31 - Combined in positions of Executive Director or Alternate Executive Director: 7 women - Comparative observations: - The IMF Executive Board’s gender diversity is below that of several comparator IFIs, including the World Bank, OECD, WTO, EBRD, EIB, and AfDB. - The IMF lags its closest comparator, the World Bank, especially at the Alternate Executive Director level and in Senior Advisor and Advisor appointments where voluntary collective employment targets have been established. - Historical and turnover notes: - Of the 24 Offices of Executive Directors, six have never had a woman appointed in the position of Executive Director or Alternate Executive Director. - One constituency has advised commitment to elect its first woman Executive Director in the next rotation. - A recent selection of a woman to serve as an Alternate Executive Director would raise the combined number to 8 women, or 15 percent. ### Collective voluntary objectives (proposal) - Agreed objective: - Establish collective voluntary medium-term objectives for the appointment of women as Executive Director and Alternate Executive Director combined of at least 30-40 percent over three election cycles, starting with the 2024 regular election of Executive Directors. - Implications of the objective: - A combined target of 30-40 percent women as Executive Director or Alternate Executive Director would imply 16-22 women in these positions. - Current combined number: 7 women. - Rationale: - Objectives should be ambitious yet realistic given historically low representation and varied national/constituency selection processes. - The goal is a concrete first step toward parity, recognizing year-to-year variation due to turnover. ### Actions recommended to help move the needle - Outreach: - Provide updated statistics (notably the factsheet “Gender Diversity in the IMF Executive Board”) ahead of IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. - Leverage IMF management’s stature and access to key decision-makers, including written communication to Governors and from Executive Directors/Alternate Executive Directors to constituencies. - Gender champions: - Executive Directors and Board members should raise awareness, advocate for change, and act as champions for gender diversity, including during missions and at high political levels to reach appointing authorities. - Influencing recruitment processes: - Encourage constituencies to extend gender objectives to international organization appointments and incorporate gender objectives in rotation agreements (examples include regular rotations of male and female candidates). - Strengthen pipelines: - Work with authorities to develop strategies to build pipelines of women for leadership positions (mentoring, proactive identification and recruitment, highlighting IMF Executive Board work). - Recognition of progress: - WGGD to highlight countries/constituencies with female representation and consider ways to showcase progress in reports to the Board of Governors. ### Accountability and measurement - The objective is collective; individual member country authorities retain selection decisions. - Reporting measures: - Regular reporting to the Board of Governors on the gender diversity profile of the Executive Board. - Publication on IMFConnect of data on each chair’s/constituency’s representation of women in leadership positions over the last ten years with the Executive Board. - Selected data on gender composition of Offices of Executive Director to be shared with the Board of Governors and included in the Fund’s Annual Report. - Note on data timing: - Data cited are as of March 2024 (historical series noted as 1968-2023 as of December 31 of each year; 2024 as of March 2024). ### Next steps and WGGD commitments - WGGD actions to continue: i) Consider ways to support implementation of the collective voluntary objectives and regular reporting on progress in the determined timeframe. ii) Continue to report on progress toward voluntary targets introduced in 2016 for Senior Advisor (35% - 45%) and Advisor (40% - 50%) levels. iii) Share best practices to help members develop pipelines for Executive Director and Alternate Executive Director positions. iv) Consider other means to engage member country authorities to ensure support and participation, to be reviewed and agreed by the Executive Board. v) Continue supporting activities to build a supportive work environment for women in the Executive Board, including through the OED Women’s Network, and engage with other IFIs to exchange experiences and best practices. - Executive Board commitment: - Executive Directors will share the attached fact sheet with their authorities and raise the issue with relevant decision makers to garner support and participation towards reaching the objectives. *Source: IMF Staff (Gender Diversity in the Executive Board—2024 Report to the Board of Governors).* --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/pp/2024/english/ppea2024006.pdf_