In a seminal paper, Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse show that when musicians do a blind audition for symphony orchestra positions they perform behind a curtain women are more likely to be hired than men. But, when the curtain is up and the person hiring can see who is performing, men are more likely to be hired. Achieving parity for promotion into management roles is difficult. The pool is small, and the recruitment committee likely has a personal relationship with each applicant. In other words, for managerial recruitment, the curtain is always up. And the audition is a decades long performance, reflecting endogenous choices shaped by systemic bias, skewed networks (old boys clubs), entrenched sexism, and so on.
Next week, finance ministers and other officials from around the world will descend on Marrakech for the World Bank and IMF annual meetings. Read on for a range of quick reactions from CGD's experts on what will happen next week, and what should happen and how we get from one to the other.
Last week, the Biden administration nominated Ajay Banga, former head of Mastercard, as a candidate to be the next World Bank president. I welcome President Biden’s choice, because Banga is an exciting and well-qualified candidate. As with any nominee, I hope the Bank’s shareholders will consider his full set of qualifications, background, and approach to development issues. Should he be elected, I look forward to continuing to work with staff under his leadership to ensure gender equality is prioritized on the Bank’s agenda.
Most recently, the Center for Global Development hosted two conferences the first is the Bali Care Economy Dialogue, a collaborative effort with The Asia Foundation and other partners alongside the G20, and the second our annual Birdsall House Conference on Gender Equality, this year focused on childcare and wider early childhood development investments. Along the way, Sumitra Mishra, executive director of Mobile Creches in India, has been a key contributor and thought partner.