Acting on Commitments to the World's Women

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Note to the reader:

World Bank staff, departments and divisions are identified by their titles as of November, 1995, except for the Senior Adviser on Women's Issues, whose title was changed to Senior Adviser on Gender Equality since the "Beyond Beijing" program.

This report was written by Sheila Reines, Office of the Senior Adviser on Gender Equality; edited by lo Bischoff, Gender Analysis and Policy Group; and designed by May Eidi, Graphics and Map Design Department.

0 the World Bank, Washington, D.C.

November, 1996

Acting on Commitments to the World% Women

November 6 - 17, 1995

Sponsored by:

The Office of the Senior Advisor on Gender Equality and The HCO Gender Analysis and Policy Group

p hat really stands out for me, as I ! look back on the U N Fourth World

Conference on Women (Beijjng,

September 4-1 5, 1995), is the enthusiasm of

the women who attended this event, and their

w~llingness to learn and to share.

There was a solidarity among the participants,

a sense of unity that helps explain how

women from such diverse cultures-often

with very different agendas-were able to

reach consensus on the Beijing Declaration

and Platform for Action. An accomplishment

even more remarkable, when considering the

giant step forward these documents represent. The Platform for Action shows that women

are committed to change and puts the world

on notice that, when it comes to gender

equality, rhetoric is no longer enough.

the Bank's top managers to mainstreaming

gender. President Wolfensohn's speech in

Beijing sent a message to the world that he is

committed to furthering the equality of

women. His support, plus the willingness of

senior managers to tackle some very difficult

issues, has helped to re-energize those hard

at work in the trenches.

And now ... what lies ahead? We must con-

tinue to look "Beyond Beijing" and find ways

to turn our words into actions, to help the

women and the men in the countries we serve

realize their full potential.

Minh Chau Nguyen V -

Manager, Gender Analysis and Policy Group

The World Bank program, "Beyond Beijing:

Acting on Commitments to the World's

Women," focused on finding ways to turn the

call for gender equality into action.The events

were planned with an eye not only to keep-

ing the momentum of Beijing alive, but to

exploring ways we all can work together to

follow through on the promises made at the

conference-the follow-through that wil l be

the ultimate proof of Beijing's success.

The response was heartening. I was particu-

larly encouraged by the eagerness for dia-

logue and a new openness, evidenced in al-

liances being forged between the Bank and

the NCO community. Many of us who work

on gender issues saw a real breakthrough

during those two weeks in November, in how the Bank is responding to the voices that were

heard so loudly and clearly in Beijing.

The success of the "Beyond Beijing" pro- gram-measured in feedback from col-

leagues inside and outside the Bank-can be

traced to a real commitment on the part of

1 h e Beijing Conference produced a 1 Platform for Action so rich in recom-

mendations that, even if we all tried

very hard, it would be difficult to run out of

inspiration for a long time. The next step is to

turn the words into action.

However, reality always lags a little behind

words. That's why we have vision.

Those of us who were in Beijing carried the

vision of equality, development and peace

back to the World Bank. And we asked our-

selves, how can we share this vision with our

colleagues? How can we make it clear that

we all have a role in realizing the Beijing Plat-

form for Action?

So we put together two weeks of events that

captured the messages of the conference, to help us look "Beyond Beijing."

We exchanged ideas with our partners in the

international development community. We

considered, with our President, Vice Presi-

dents and Board members, our responsibil-

ity as an international development institu-

tion to practice what we preach. We explored

issues in the spheres of economics and art.

We heard the inspiring words of the First Lady

of the United States. We experienced the

story of women not only through words, but

through images and music.

Now comes the challenge: to take the inspi-

ration from Beijing, and beyond, and trans-

late vision into reality.

We need to build an institution where we

mobilize the energy that lies in our differ-

ences as men and women, and as people

from diverse countries and cultures. We need

to work together, so that men find new ways

of acting instead of repeating old patterns,

and so that women take the steps that wi l l

change their roles in the organization, the

work environment and the corporate culture.

And, we have to make these actions part of

basic business processes and daily life.

I hope that "Beyond Beijing" gave us inspi-

ration. Now, no more words-let's just do it!

Anette Steen Pledersen Senior Adviser on Gender Equality

Acting on Commitments to the World's Women

he Beijing Conference focused world

attention on gender issues and pro-

vided an excellent opportunity to

highlight gender issues in the World Bank.

At the same time that Bank staff were work-

ing on contributions to the conference itself,

the Senior Adviser on Women's Issues and

the Manager of the Gender Analysis and

Policy Group began planning events to fol-

low up the conference-a program that

would address conference outcomes, their

implications for the World Bank and the

Bank's commitments to action.

Colleagues from around the Bank came to-

gether to give their advice. The sessions, they

said, should cover gender issues related to

the Bank's development programs and ex-

plore gender issues inside the institution it-

self. They should provide a mix of closed fora

where staff and managers of the World Bank

Group and IMF could frankly discuss the past

and the future, and outward-looking events

that build bridges to partners in the interna-

tional development community. There should

be large events with high-visibility speakers,

and small seminars that allow substantive dia-

logue. The sessions should be at lunchtime,

when it is easiest for the greatest number of

staff to participate.

We listened to our colleagues, we tried, and

this is what we came up with.. .

" Bamherger IPSP/GAP> prepare for discussion groups at the gender resource fair which kicked off the two- week progran7.

Clockwise from upper right: President lames D. Wolfensohn and South Asia Vice President D. Joseph Wood conier before the opening session on November 7; President and Mrs Wolfensohn, and US Executive Director /an Pierck. join a group of Bank staff following the keynote address by US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton; plenarv session following the resource fair discussion groups; Cecilia Kennedy il.oan Department) and K.H. Imam IAFR) share their observations on women in Atrica with a panel of the Bank's Executive Directors.

A Marketplace of Gender Resources

ne of the implicit messages brought back from Beijing by the Bank's dele- gation is the need for more informa-

tion exchange-for the international devel- opment community, and particularly NGOs, to learn more about the World Bank's work on gender, and for the Bank to learn about what others are doing.

On Monday, November 6, the "Beyond Beijing" program opened with a gender re- sources "marketplace," which evoked the activity and energy of the NGO Forum in Huairou.

Bank departments, NGOs and development agencies set up stalls where visitors could

"shop" for information and ideas. Everybody brought publications, many brought photo

displays and a few high-technology groups set up videos and CD-ROM computer dis- plays. After "shopping," visitors were invited

to take part in discussion groups. Three top- ics were selected on the basis of suggestions sent in by exhibitors in advance:

Towards gender equality in the economy

NGOs have a comparative advantage at the micro level, and the Bank has a comparative

advantage at the macro level. Each can learn from, and support, the other.

Enhancing the personal and legal status of women. Women's legal rights must be linked

to the broader development agenda if there i s to be any progress in enhancing women's legal status.

Making development projects more gender

responsive. It is often asked: what are the additional costs of making policies, programs and projects gender-responsive? There is a more important question: how much does it cost if programs are not gender responsive?

ludee Blohrn (US Peace Corps), Susan Brackett (Brackett and Associates) and Laurie Tirnrnerrnan (World Service) taking part in a discussion group following the resource fair.

EXHIB~TORS AT THE MARKETPLACE

Academy for Educational Development W r l d Bank: WED)

Appropriate Technology International (ATI) Human Oevelopment Department (MUD> Asia Foundation Operations Evaluation Department (OED3 Association for Women in Development Private Sector Development fPSDWConsuhative

(Awl D) Group to Assist the Poorest tCGAPI

Center for Development and Population Office of the Senior Adviser an Activities (CEDPA) Gender Equality

Friends World Committee Gender Analysis and Policy/Paverty and Social institute for Women, taw and Development POiiCY (GAP/PSP)

InterAction Consultative Croup on International

International Center for Research on Women Research fCGfARj

(ICRW) Human Resources Division: Africa Technical f i e Network of East-West Women Department (AFTHRI

Partners of the Americas tatin America and the Caribbean (LAC} Save the Children East Asia and the Pacific (EAP)

Women's International AIDSCAP South Asia [SAS) Winrock International Europe and Central Asia (ECA) US Peace Corps Middle East and North Africa (MNA) Inter-~merican Development ~ a h k Economic Development institute (EDl) US Agency for International Development

y o r the first time in the 20-year history of the UN women$ conferences, the delegation

of the World Bank was headed by its president. At the conference, lames D. Wolfensohn

communicated a new vision and new commitments for the Bank.

November 7, 1995 marked another first, when a group of the Bank's most senior managers

came together to disc~~ss gender issues. The formal opening of "Beyond Beijing" gave World

Bank staff a chance to hear their President's message. And, they had a chance to hear from a

panel of Vice Presidents, about what the Bank is doing, and will do, to promotegender equality.

James D. Wolfensohn have my

mitment that in terms of inside the Bank and

in terms of our projects outside the Bank, the

issues relating to gender, and particularly

women, wil l be integral to my management.

Integral. Not add-on, not token-integral. But

to make it integral, all of you have to be be-

lievers, and you have to work at it with me.

You have as a President someone who cares,

someone who i s coming to you very straight-

forwardly and very honestly and saying I am

committed to the program of Beijing."

Africa, EdwardK Jaycox, VP"~ender concerns will be a central element in our renewed

focus on poverty alleviation in the Africa Region. Beijing has stimulated the preparation of

country-level strategies [and] programs to deal with women's issues in many countries. Our ESW, our poverty assessments and our Country Assistance Strategies are going to zero in on

those existing country strategies, but also develop them where they don't exist as yet."

Latin America & the Caribbean, ShahidlavedBurki, VPnWhat we in the LAC Region would

like to do is work with the governments and see what difference we can bring about ... But

what is required is first to convince the governments that women's development i s extremely

critical, not only for poverty alleviation and improvement in income distribution, but also

for having sustainable economic growth."

SouthAsia, D. joseph Wood, VPUFor us, gender ... can't be an add-on. Why can't it be an add-

on? Well in contrast to the averages [which] don't look so bad in Latin America, they look

terrible in South Asia. What do we do about it? Well, we don't have anything you haven't heard

about before.. . I have been struck by how powerful some of the standard recipes can be."

East Asia & Pacific, Russell Cheetham, VPUWe have an increasingly clear view of where

some of the problem areas are in the region, with respect to programs to address gender

issues. And armed with this increasingly clear view of where some of the issues are, where

some of the problems are, we are of the view that we are going to be able to target Bank

interventions rather more effectively than might have been the case, say, five or ten years ago."

Middle East & North Africa, Caio Koch-Weser, VPUFirst, we are trying to address the most

immediate needs: access to health, family planning, social assistance. Second, we are trying

to empower women to participate more fully in social and economic development in the

medium term, particularly, of course, to increase girls' and women's participation in school-

ing. Third.. . [is] to help remove barriers for women to earn income. Fourth.. . to strengthen

the capacity of governments, of NGOs and local institutions, including research institutions,

to analyze women's status, to create awareness and design appropriate policies and programs."

Europe & Central Asia, Marcelo Selowsky, Chief Economist "We plan to triple our portfol io

in the social sectors and social assistance in the next years from $1 billion to $3 billion ... we

are trying to design more demand-driven worker retraining programs ... we plan to acceler-

ate work with local governments to assist them in taking over day-care, kindergarten and

basic services ... also we are adressing social issues of restructuring in specific sectors."

The panel, left to right: Armeane Choksi panel chair IHCOVP); Kim \.i Jaycox (AFRVP): Sh.lhid laved Burki (LACVPI: D. Joseph Wood (SASVPI; Caio Koch-LVeser IMNAVPI; Russell Cheetharn (EAPVP); Marcelo Selowsky I ECA Senior Economist, for Wilfried Thahvitzi.

First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clin ton

n her professional life, and her public life as First Lady of the United States, Hillary

Rodham Clinton has raised an eloquent voice on behalf of women in her own country

and around the world. On November 8, World Bank staff and invited guests had a

chance to hear that eloquent voice. To sum up, as President Wolfensohn did, it was, "a

comprehensive and wonderful speech and the answers to questions were breathtaking and

demonstrated your vision."

"As I look at this audience, I am reminded, as

I always am when I think about the World

Bank, of how representative this institution is

of peoples all over the world and their aspira-

tions.

I know that by your very presence here you

need litt le persuading that investing in

women should be at the core of any strategy

to alleviate poverty, energize economies, and

strengthen our global family. I know that you

here at this Bank seek to maximize the re-

turn on your loans and investments. And sup-

porting projects that raise the social, eco-

nomic, political, and legal status of women

in their fam~lies and communities is one of

the soundest investments that countries, and

the World Bank, can make.

PSP Director Ishrdt Husain leads off in the question and-answer period. Looking on (1. to r., Mrs. Wolfensohn, Anette Pedersen, Minh Chau Nguyen, Vice President/ChieioiStaff Rachel Lomax.

But these simple calculations are ones that

many in our world, even after all the work of

the World Bank in recent years, even after

the UN conferences in Copenhagen and

Beijing, still fail to understand. There are

many who seem to think that so-called

women's issues-education and health care

for example-are soft issues, not worthy of

addressing in any strategic manner ... But that

is wrong, and you are helping to prove that it

i s wrong every day."

"So long as women anywhere are prevented

from realizing their God-given potential, the

vicious cycle of poverty that traps not only

women, but also their children, husbands,

communities and nations will continue. And

this trend threatens the very institutions we

are seeking to uphold: strongfamilies, strong

economies, and strong democracies."

"...After Beijing, we still have much to do in

making the message of that conference live

in the minds and hearts of people all over

the world, and we have even more work to

do in implementing the agenda for action that

was adopted. But I believe that we have

turned an important corner, that for the first

time institutions as significant as the World

Bank, governments like that of my own coun-

try, and people throughout the world, in

NGOs and on their own, are finally saying

and believing that women should be valued

and invested in. And if we carry forward on

that promise, then I am confident we will see

results in the short and medium term that wil l

in many ways reflect that this new commit-

ment is well founded. And your leadership,

both in articulating it and implementing it,

wil l Ile crucial to any hope for progress that

we have."

QUESTION: "Mrs. Clinton, I have heard you

speak before on the importance of women's

political participation and women's role in

decision-making.. . I wonder if you could com-

ment on how you see women in decision-

making and women's political participation

in relation to some ofthe initiatives to allevi-

ate poverty, to empower women across many

different sectors, and how that might play out

for an organization such as the World Bank

and other major donors."

Mrs. Clinton: "I hope that one of the results

of Beijing will be to raise awareness about

women's political participation and to catalyze

a variety of ways that each of us can promote

that. There are small ways of doing it.

When you attend meetings in some coun-

tries, and you know that there may be a

woman buried in the bureaucracy who has

been working on this, and she is not invited

to the meeting-ask that she be there. When

you make site visits and you are taken to the

male leaders of the village or the project and

you know that women are doing at least half

the work-ask to see them. Those are small,

but significant signals about who is impor-

tant in the eyes of the World Bank. I think

any Bank-to-government conversations, and

certainly government-to-government conver-

sations should do the same, to try to raise

the role of women and their participation."

Mrs. Clinton greets Executive Directors (1. to r.) Eveline Herfkins, ]an Piercy and Ruth lacoby.

Key Economic Issues for Women

n Beijing, there was general recognition

that women's access to economic op-

portunities and control of financial re-

sources are key to determining personal sta-

tus and family well-being. On November 13,

three distinguished panelists explored issues

related to the economic empowerment o f

women.

"One of the main messages from the Beijing

Conference was that we in the international

institutions and the donor community should

pay more attention to strengthening the eco-

nomic opportunities for enhancing the sta-

tus of women. And that, apparently, is our

comparative advantage."

lshrat Husain, Director, Policy and

Social Policy Department, moderator

"No one is saying, 'stop structural adjust-

ment.' We are saying that it is not enough,

that institutions matter, and that you cannot

rely on market forces in and of themselves to

take care of opening up this access to 500 million people. You need not only a range of

institutions that meet high standards, but ... mechanisms at the national and international

levels that provide capitalization, loan funds

and institutional development support ...

The Bank itself has got to adopt this new para-

digm, saying that structural adjustment is

necessary but not sufficient. The answer is not in public-sector expenditures on social

services. The answer is in building finance

and enterprise systems that work for the poor majority ... The Bank could get much more

creative than it is-even if we are talking

about health or education services-in back-

ing non-governmental organizations and cre-

ating financial instruments that are not just

what I call the 'beg-and-spend strategy.'

The Bank is learning to listen, and it is learn-

ing to use its power to create decentralized

structures and processes that involve asking

more than the Minister of Finance and the

Governor o i the Central Bank how to run the

country. Once you open up those decision-

making processes, not only wil l the NGOs

have a voice, but most importantly, low-in-

come women will be given a voice in poli-

cies and resource-flow decisions of their

country." Nancy Barry, President,

Women's World Banking

"Very often people ask me, in a few words,

how would you describe Beijing? And I say,

it I have to describe Beijing, it i s really the

unbracketing of women's lives. If there mlas

another way of describing Beijing, I would

say that it was not a world conference of

women; it was really a women's conference

about the world. Because the scope of issues

discussed was just amazing, the interlinkages

built ~vere very profound.The other thing that

was really very, very advantageous was that

processes were put in place. Beijing was not

an event; Beijing was a process."

Noeleen Heyzer, Director, UNlFEM

"What I an1 telling the implementers of struc-

tural ;~djustment i s not necessarily to do less

liberalizing, but to look at who the partici-

pants are in the new markets that they are

liberalizing. The women are very few in num-

ber there. They are highly under-represented,

and those who enter are not si~fficiently

endo\ved to gainfully participate in these

markets. As long as we are applying struc-

tural adjustment, this is where the attention

shoultl go.

When I was @\,en the terms of reference for

this p~rt icular meeting, I was requested to

outline how governments can ensure that the

that there are no benevolent governments out

there who are going to ensure that this hap-

pens ... We have got to ask, how do we get

women to organize into vocal pressure

groups to argue for an equitable allocation

of resources?

I have the following to say to the world bod-

ies, the World Bank and the IMF. Be true to

yourselves. You have liberalized the eco-

nomic system. You have to liberalize the au-

diences you listen to. It is not sufficient to

stop at the Permanent Secretary, at the

President's chamber. You should also listen

to the private sector. You should listen to the

NGO sector.. . to trade unions and so on. And

as you listen to these other publics, you

should look for whether the women's voice

is coming through."

Germina Ssemogerere, Senior Lecturer in Economics,

Makerere Uiiiversity

benefits of structural adjustment are in the

long run shared by women. I have to reply

n conjunction with the exhibition of

works by women artists (see pages 22- 23), the World Bank Staff Art Society

(WBSAS) organized a panel that brought to-

gether artists, curators, publishers, writers and

professors, to discuss the empowerment of

women in the arts.

"We are al l artistic-everybody has creativ-

i ty within. I think in this mechanized tech-

nological society, many times w e are not al-

lowed or w e don't think w e are al lowed to

develop creativity, bu t w e all have it. And if

w e listen to our voices, w e can f ind it."

Alicia Hetzner,

WBSAS Panel Organizer

jenny Marketou, Artist and Professor of Pho- tography, Cooper Union

Diane Karp, Pubtisher, New Observafioos Magazine

Caterina Pizanias, Writer and "Itinerant Aca- demic"

Berta M. Sichel, Curator/Professor,The New School for Social Research

M.M. Serra, Director, Film-Makers' Coop erative, New York

The panel, left to right (seated): Berta M. Sichel, Carolee Schnebmann, Artist h1.M. Serra, Caterina Pizanias; istanding) Carolee SchnePrnann, jenny Marketou, Diane Karp.

A session sponsored by the World Bank Staff Art Society

"If we don't have writers to write about

women's art history-because, as we all know,

until recently there has been no such thing

as history written about women's art -how

will it exist if we don't write our own history

and if we don't create our own writing?"

Jenny Marketou, Panel Chair

Audience n-iernbers braved wind and rain to attend the session, and stayed on to talk further with panelists Caterin,? Piranias and M.M. Serra about their presentations.

"Our goal as the alternative press is to present

possibilities as opposed to limits, to provide

the opportunity for wonlen's vision and tal-

ents to become communicated narratives.

We do this knowing that [women's] ideas and

their images will inspire others to strive to-

ward the realization and communication of

their own narratives."

Diane Karp

"We have to critically examine the contra-

dictory sites that our [art] institutions have

become, sites where the majority of labor

from the critical/curatorial to fund-raising

functions is done by women-and women

are still looking in from the outside."

Caterina Pizanias

t Q UA L I TY - Our Shareholders' Views

ver the past 25 years, the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors has helped

focus the Bank's attention on gender issues-related to its programs and projects,

and to its own internal staffing issues. This session on October 15 provided a rare

opportunity for staff to engage in informal discussions with a panel of Board members.

)an PiercyUI am on the Board Personnel Committee. I raise that in this context because I

think it is an instrument in which we look at how our own composition as a Bank-manage-

ment and staff-will affect our sensitivity and our effectiveness in dealing with gender issues

In our programs.

In my own career, I have had the opportunity to take part in creating management teams.. . And I have found-though this sounds very simplistic to say-that you only get it when you

have it. By that I mean that we only see real progress with respect to gender when we have

teams at the top level of organizations that include women as well as men."

Ruth)acobyiiTen years ago, fifteen years ago, I think most countries got themselves a min-

ister for women's affairs, or somebody responsible for taking care of this, which all of a

sudden people thought was important.. . It was a first step; it was absolutely necessary. But.. . we

must go beyond that. Women's issues or gender issues is not something sectorized or separate.

What is important today is that everything-opening a shoe shop, organizing a committee in

government dealing with electricity, whatever-is a gender issue, because at some stage it

involves women in the decision-making, in the implementation, as the ultimate recipients

and stakeholders."

Shengman "...If I may be provocative. it may be appropriate to pose this question: what do you think would be more effective-if you come in with the attitude of trying to be a house designer or trying to be a bricklayer? I think this has implications for how we ap- proach the [gender] issue in our member countries. Should it be an issue-specific or gender- specific approach? Or should it be integrated, what we call the mainstream approach?

... You probably will be more effective if you come in trying to be a bricklayer rather than trying to be a house designer. I am not saying that the house designer is not important-but don't you think we should be more humble going in, rather than coming in and saying look, we have all the best and advanced [ideas]. ..?"

A'i "... I think that as Board members coming from developing countries, we can

do a number of things to enhance the dialogue with our countries ... As far as the Board is concerned, we should really try to see that the discussion of the Country Assistance Strate- gies be made fruitful ... We really have to push this instrument to be effective and see that staff really discuss all these issues. And if these issues are not written in the CAS, we should just reject it or just tell them that this is not enough."

Ayse Akin-#amsapan, LAC Regfon "Thank you for this opportunity to see the Board members outside the Board Room, which usually happens only maybe twice, three times in the lifetime of a Task Manager. And we never get to discuss issues there.. . so this is really great."

Katherine Marshall, Southern Africa "...What the Board can encourage, and rnanag- e n need to encourage, is essentially to be very provocative about these issues and to present them in very concrete terms."

(See Photo on facing page)

Rachel Lomax, Vice President and Chief of Staff, Chair

World Bank Executive Directors:

lomax "If I may make a biased com-

ment from the Chair just to annoy everybody and try to get someone off their feet, I feel the Bank is a long way from having internal- ized these [issues]. There is an awful lot of political correctness and a lot of paragraphs in Board papers which, if you look at the

country departments and you hear the Task Managers on the ground, is so much impress-

Ali Bourhane, Benin et. al. ing the Board."

Jan Piercy, United States

Shengman Zhang, China

Ruth jacoby, Scandinavian and Baltic Countries

The Experience of the Bank of Montreal

ince 7 990, the Bank of Montreal has

made concerted efforts to achieve

workplace equality. These efforts be- gan with the challenge from Bank ofMontreal

President E Anthony Comper, "the glass ceil-

ing is now officially smashed; let us all rise

to the occasion." On November 16, Mr.

Comper talked to World Bank staff and invited

guests about the Bank of Montreal's ground-

breaking work to change its gender profile,

and why it makes "good business sense."

equitable workplace has changed us pro-

foundly, both as individuals and as an orga-

nization. To call it a cultural revolution

wouldn't be overstating the case.

The customer-driven, information-based glo-

bal economy that now drives all our agen-

das was beginning to take form in 1989 when

our team assumed the leadership of the Bank

of Montreal. In a nutshell, we could see that

soon, very soon, customers would no longer

have to come to us. If we wanted to stav in

business, we had to go to them.

And to do that, to became the 'relationship'

bankers that the new economic realities de-

manded, we had to change fundamentally.

We had to count more and more on the com-

petence and the commitment of individual

employees and trust them to make the right

decisions.

Whatever else it would take to create this at-

mosphere of trust, it would take a sea change

in the way we manage people. The old divi-

sion between bosses and workers had to dis-

appear in favor of coaches and teams. We

had to create a sense that we were indeed in

this all together. And to create that sense, we

needed a management style that was collabo-

rative and inclusionary and totally hidden-

Bank of Montreal President F. Anthony Comper agenda free.

"I want to tell you straight out that helping to I have no problem describing this as the

establish workplace equality at the Bank of woman's style of leadership, just as I have no

Montreal is the most significant and satisfy- problem describing this as the best of all pos-

ing thing that I have done in my professional sible styles of leadership, at least for us right

life. I want to tell you that our pursuit of an now and into the foreseeable future.

This wasn't some well-meaning, stand-alone

initiative from the Human Resources Depart-

ment, designed to tell us what we should do

to help women advance in our workplace.

We committed ourselves to integrating work-

place equality into every aspect of our work-

ing lives.

For example, we have integrated the advance-

ment of women into all of our management

systems, from hiring to training to business

planning. Every manager in the bank is as-

sessed on her or his record for advancing

women and for contributing toour workplace

equality goals generally.

At the senior management level-that is just

below the executive ranks-women now

hold more than 21 percent of positions and

that is up from 13 percent in our pre-Task

Force days [ I 991 I . And this year to date, 35

percent of promotions in senior management

have gone to women.

Am I satisfied with this rate of advancement?

Absolutely not.

Mieko Nishimizu <'I was a member of aTask

Force similar to yours a few years back at the

[World] Bank. I do remember reading your

Bank's Task Force report. And I was woken

up by that ... And what really finally got me

going to work with my colleagues towards

the equality objective was your message: it's

good for business, stupid.

I won't be satisfied until women and men On behalf of my colleagues, both men and

areequitably represented at all levels ... What women, I would like to thank you and your

I am happy about, though, is that these gains bank very much for being one of the impor-

were achieved the way they should be tant role models for what we set out to do a

achieved, and that is purely on the basis of number of years ago."

merit.

What can it possibly mean when a vener-

able, established, conservative, male-domi-

nated organization like a bank makes work-

place equality a top business issue?

It means, I believe, that this is an idea whose

time has truly come."

Anthony C o w discusses strategies1 for bringing women into management with Ngozi 04onjo-lweala

(AFR) afid Aneb W e r s e n .

A Cultural Event

n November 17, the "Beyond Beijing" program closed on 2 note of harmony

Musikanten, an a capella choir, sang songs by and aboc~t rvomen, from medieva1 to

modern times.

"We thought it was appropriate to look for-

ward to the future with music, the only uni-

versal language we have found thus far.

Music and art have always reflected history,

and throughout history we have heard mostly

the music of men. Today we are beginning to

hear the music of women, a presage of the

role they will be playing in the 21 st century

and thereafter. The "Beyond Beijing" program

concludes appropriately with a chorus of

mixed voices, not women's voices alone,

because our vision i s of a world where

women and men have equal voices."

Elaine R. Wolfensohn,

program host

" i t up's the word, and a world gro~vs greener

minute by second and most by more -

if death is the loser and life is the winner

(and beggars are rich but misers are poor)

-let's touch the sky"

Finale: "Let's b u c h the Sky" (words by e.e. cumniings, music by Louise Talma)

"You have brought us through centuries within thirty minutes, and brought us to the

next century. .. We know that to achieife equality, peace and development, sometimes

we have disharmony and life is hard on all of us. But i i we work together and raise

equal voices-and they soundgood together, don't they?-we wi l l get there."

Anette Steen Pedersen

Musikanten director Kerry Krehill accepts a token of appreciation from the orgcjnizers of the "Beyond Beijing" program. Following the performance, guests had a chance to talk to the artists during a luncheon reception, and admire the paintings o t the WBSAS a,-t exhibition's "China Collection" in the E-building gallery.

An Art Exhibition Sponsored by the World Bank StaffArt Society

n conjunction with the "Beyond Beijing" program, the World Bank Staff Art Society

(WBSASI sponsored an exhibition that brought together 63 women artists from around

the world. From November 6 to January 75, the public spaces of the World Bank were

filled with images-some soothing, some disturbing, all thought-provoking-of women's

"dilemmas in facing the challenges of life today while striving to preserve their identities."

The unique array of two- and three-dimension

of the videos, meld into a vivid interpretation

this exhibition is, after all, a monument to wor

of each piece projects a frank respect and ovc

of their origins, cultural heritage, and social

endurance, tenderness, strength, persistence,

desperation, sadness, joys, achievements and

dreams of women who physically carry the

next generation to life, and care for and un-

equivocally partake in its shaping.

Regine S. Boucard, President, WBSAS

al works, the echoes of a poem, the messages

in which feminism sometimes takes over, but

nen. The rich creativity and candid sensitivity

dapping concerns among women regardless

constraints. The works reflect the patience,

mf! Wol/ensohn and E~hibition Curator Vasia Deliy~anni admire the work of Australian-born sculptor Diann

"1-ife Lines" ( 1 994); Beatriz Kohn (born in Venezuela, lives in US), a work in bronze and wood.

Showings of WETV Videos on Women's Issues

rom November 7- 16, films by the global access television network WETV and its partner organizations were shown daily. The films addressed some o f the main top- ics o f the Beijing Conference. Here is just a sampling -

"Agent of Change," a Rockefeller Foundation documentary, took viewers to India, Brazil and Senegal to show the role of women in environment and development.

"The Bad Fairy Godmother" (UNDP) tackled the overuse of the Cesarean section as a form of birth control in Brazil.

"Mama Lungowe" (The 5-Minute Project) focused on economic opportunities for women in Zambia.

The UNDPUWomen in Society" Series took a look at the economic empowerment of women in Guatemala.

"Not for Ourselves Alone" (UNIFEM) presented case studies from Mexico and the Philip- pines illustrating what women can do with access to money and resources.

"My Son" (The 5-Minute Project) dramatized the story of a woman in India who disguises her daughter as a boy so she can go to school.

"Global Links-Women in theThird World," by the World Bank, looked at the role women play in economic participation and economic development.

ABOLIT WETV WETV was created after the Earth Summit in 1992 by a coalition of international and national development agencies, UN agencies, NGOs and private sector groups. It is a global access television network dedicated to informational and educational programs of global importance. Over 20 partners, including the World Bank, provide funding. WETV became operational in 1995. The first WETV broadcast event was the Beijing Project, which combined daily coverage from the UN conference and documentaries on gender and development programs.

BB-01 Messages from Beijing and Their Implications for the World Bank

[Bank staff only]

BB-02 Keynote Address, First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton

BB-03 Beyond Beijing: Key Economic Issues for Women

BB-04 Women and Art: Empowering Narratives

BB-05 Promoting Gender Equality: Our Shareholders' Views

BB-06 Breaking Glass Ceilings: The Experience of the Bank of Montreal

For further information contact:

Office of the Senior Adviser on Gender Equality The World Bank

1 81 8 H Street, N.W. Room E3-056 Washington, D.C. 20433