Catalog

Achieving Full Participation of Women at ADB
ADB Review [ January - February 2004 ]

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) faces a challenge. There are only 240 (about 30%) women professional staff at ADB. At the senior staff level, only eight (about 7%) are women (see story).

Fortunately, ADB is responding to the challenge by working to ensure that the number of women continues to rise and that women are represented throughout the organization in skills levels and functional and geographic areas.

As part of its efforts, ADB announced in 2003 a second phase of its Gender Action Plan (GAP II) for professional staff, which identified several areas for improvement, including ensuring better opportunities for career development, an improved workplace environment, and the need for benchmarking and monitoring GAP II issues. This effort continues in 2004 and is expected to be fully implemented through 2005.

The eight principles identified as important for GAP II are management’s direct involvement, targeted recruitment activities, accountability of directors, involvement of staff, mainstreaming of gender issues, competition based on competence and merit, assisted development, and a supportive work environment.

To achieve the desired outcomes for GAP II, ADB is enlarging the internal pipeline of women professional staff for higher positions, increasing external recruitment of women professional staff in operational areas and at higher levels, improving the work environment, and benchmarking and monitoring. A GAP II Working Group, comprising representatives from all departments and offices, is shaping the implementation and monitoring the progress of the initiatives. With GAP II, ADB may one day achieve a critical mass (30–35%) of women professional decision makers as well as a more representative professional staff gender profile. And that would be a challenge met. (Lynette Mallery and Susan Kerr, ADB)

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