## Boosting Growth Through Diversity in Financial Leadership

_IMF News, April 13, 2019_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Boosting Growth Through Diversity in Financial Leadership](https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2019/04/13/sp041319-boosting-growth-through-diversity-in-financial-leadership)

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: April 13, 2019

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### Overview
- Remarks delivered by IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton at an IMF/IFC Seminar on Gender Diversity Dividends in Finance, April 13, 2019.
- Theme: macroeconomic, moral, and ethical implications of gender diversity in finance and the costs of exclusion and harassment.

### Key statistics and findings
- Of the 1.7 billion people unbanked globally, nearly one billion of them are women.
- Lower access to bank credit robs women of opportunities to educate their children, start businesses, or tide over hard times.
- Across the world, fewer than 20 percent of bank and supervisory board members are women.
- IMF Executive Board of 24 chairs currently had only 2 women, with a third female Executive Director expected in a few weeks.
- Only 2 percent of bank CEOs worldwide are women.
- Recent IMF research shows increasing financial inclusion, of both women and men, lifts economic growth.
- Research shows having more women in leadership positions leads to greater financial stability, lower levels of non-performing loans, and higher profits.
- Banks with a higher share of women on their boards were more stable in 2008, when the Global Financial Crisis hit.
- A survey by the American Economic Association reported:
  - A shockingly large number of women economists reported being victims of sexual assault.
  - Nearly half of women economists said they avoid speaking at conferences for fear of harassment or “disrespectful treatment.”
  - 70 percent felt that male colleagues’ work was taken more seriously than their own.
- At the IMF, progress toward internal gender goals includes nearly reaching the 2020 goal of 30 percent of management positions filled by women—almost tripling the ratio from 10 years ago.

### Causes and barriers to women’s advancement
- Conscious and unconscious bias: cultural, religious, and the tendency of men to hire people similar to themselves.
- Women are often held to a higher standard of performance; women of color face even bigger obstacles.
- Harassment and violence against women present an "ugly dimension" that imposes economic costs (health and services, reduced productivity, lost opportunities) and organizational harm.
- Early-career and academic harassment discourages young women from entering or remaining in economics and finance, draining intellectual capital.

### Economic and organizational consequences
- Greater diversity brings more diverse views, helps avoid group-think, and leads to better decision making.
- Sexual harassment:
  - Is criminal behavior in cases of assault.
  - Cuts to the soul of institutions and must be confronted and stopped.
  - Drives talented women away from the field, reducing the pool of future leaders.

### Institutional and community actions
- Recognition of the #MeToo movement’s role in bringing harassment into the open.
- Support for the American Economic Association’s sanctions against harassment and a call for every economist to take a stand.
- Institutional progress at the IMF and World Bank noted, including female chief economists at both institutions.

### Policy implications and recommendations
- Increase financial inclusion for both women and men to lift economic growth.
- Promote gender diversity in leadership to enhance financial stability, reduce non-performing loans, and raise profitability.
- Confront conscious and unconscious bias in hiring and promotion processes.
- Implement and enforce robust measures to prevent and sanction sexual harassment and assault within institutions and professional settings.
- Encourage mentoring, recruitment, and retention practices that expand the pipeline of qualified women leaders, including attention to the compounded barriers faced by women of color.

### Concluding message
- Empowering women in the global economy and expanding their presence in boardrooms supports economic and institutional health.
- The fight for equality and dignity should begin within organizations and workplaces.

*IMF Communications Department, Remarks by IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton, April 13, 2019.*

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## References

- [David Lipton](http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/dl.htm)
- [Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)
- [PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)
- [https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2019/04/13/sp041319-boosting-growth-through-diversity-in-financial-leadership_