Center for Global Development 39d ago

International organizations including international financial institutions (IFIs) play a significant role in shaping economic policy, development priorities, and global norms, and women’s leadership within these institutions matters for both internal governance and external impact. CGD’s research shows a clear and consistent pattern: women are hired into technical and junior professional roles at or near parity, but they are not promoted into leadership at the same rate. This “clogged pipeline” cannot be explained by a lack of qualified women. Instead, it points to institutional processes, cultures, and career structures that shape who rises into leadership, particularly during periods of reorganization, decentralization, or rapid change, when gender parity gains are most vulnerable to backsliding. This conference will convene researchers, practitioners, and institutional leaders to examine why promotion systems that are nominally meritocratic fail to deliver equitable leadership outcomes—and why that failure matters for institutional performance. Evidence from IFIs, international organizations, and the status of women in the economics profession shows that women’s presence in decision-making roles influences policy priorities, the quality of implementation, and investments in social sectors critical for long-term growth. By integrating new quantitative and qualitative evidence on current trends and barriers to women’s career’s progression, and research on what works to address these barriers, this conference aims to identify concrete, testable reforms that can strengthen leadership pipelines, prevent backsliding during institutional transitions, and ensure that institutions charged with promoting inclusive growth are governed by leadership that reflects and serves the populations they affect.