The recent backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in the US and some other Western nations has raised the risk that the journey towards gender equality is about to become a lot more treacherous to navigate.
This increasingly hostile atmosphere could translate into real danger for women’s rights, prospects, and well-being, not just in advanced economies, but it is also likely to reverberate in emerging economies where progress has often been slower and resistance to change even stronger.
The WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2024 estimated it would take 134 years to reach gender parity worldwide if the current rate of change was maintained. How can advocates and allies resist the backlash today, and what will it take to secure gender parity far sooner than 2158? How are regions such as Africa rising to the challenge, and what lessons can we learn from activists and female leaders there? As we near the 30th anniversary of the milestone Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – a global policy framework for gender equality – how far has the world come?
At the 54th St. Gallen Symposium yesterday, I was privileged to curate a panel session titled Leaving the Western bubble: Exploring the progress of women’s rights around the world and hear from inspiring women on the frontline of the fight for equality. Several key insights emerged from our discussion that serve as valuable food for thought for leaders looking to accelerate positive change, even in the face of resistance.
How do you measure progress? Because there is pushback. If there was none, you wouldn’t talk about any pushback.- Bineta Diop, Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité
Many activists have voiced concern at moves in the United States and elsewhere to dial down on DE&I initiatives. Our panelists said it was easy to lose sight of the longer-term picture: that change was happening, despite the challenges, and that resistance was proof of gains already made.
“How do you measure progress? Because there is pushback. If there was none, you wouldn’t talk about any pushback,” said Bineta Diop, the Founder and President of peace-building NGO Femmes Africa Solidarité and a highly respected figurehead in Africa’s gender equality movement. “How do we address the gaps we have? We need to push back the pushback.”
Patrice Juah, a Liberian poet, women’s education advocate, and global civil rights professor, said there had been clear progress in areas such as political participation and peace building across Africa, but also ingrained resistance. “The push back is clear, and this is a challenge for us,” she observed.
“The Beijing declaration was the foundation for so much that has happened over the last 30 years. ”Clara Zoé Richter, founder of the Women With Impact platform
Diop and Juah pointed out a catalogue of challenges in Africa, from sexual and gender-based violence and cultural limitations to health and cyberbullying.
“There are also cultural limitations – getting stuck between evolving to catch up with the rest of the world but being held back by cultural ideas,” said Juah.
Those cultural aspects must also be taken into consideration when designing solutions that can have a real impact on the ground. This can be as simple as ensuring that information about women’s rights is translated into language that people can understand, or using traditional forms of community debate to discuss challenges and find solutions.
“These challenges do not need to be swept beneath the carpet, but to be discussed in a traditional setting,” she said. “To look beyond the Western bubble, we have to explore other pathways of leadership. This leadership doesn’t always have to come in suits or the boardroom,” Juah said.
What was clear from our debate was that, despite specific regional challenges, many of the proposed solutions for women’s equality ring true across national or regional borders.
Juah recounted how, as a child living through civil war in Liberia, her mother served as a powerful role model, enabling her to see beyond the suffering and limitations of her immediate surroundings and to reimagine the possibilities for her own life.
“She surrounded me with lots of books,” she said. “I was able to see what a peaceful society looked like through reading – there’s Switzerland, Paris, or New York.”
Diop’s mother, too, was a powerful positive force in her journey to international leadership.
“Having role models is very important,” she explained. “My mother, even though she never went to school, was my role model because she was fighting for women’s rights in my community.”
Clara Zoé Richter, founder of the Women With Impact platform, highlighted the importance of sharing narratives and creating space for belonging in promoting inclusivity. Diop agreed, adding that role models and learning can come from unexpected sources, including younger generations.
“It is both sides – also mentoring by young people,” she said. “There is so much knowledge in youth. We need to have the confidence and give the baton to them.”
Glass ceilings for economic advancement exist everywhere. For Diop, the key to breaking through those barriers lies in giving women greater access to the resources that they need.
“Women leaders in our country don’t control the resources in the private sector. The glass ceiling is the boardroom. If you wanted to be in politics in my continent, it’s about resources; also, when it comes to education, you have to pay a lot,” she said.
Land ownership plays a crucial role, too.
“The land has been given, in our system, to men,” she said. “If you invest in women, they will pay back. Give us our land. We need the land. About 70% of the agriculture sector labor force are women, and they don’t own the land. When women are healthy and can contribute to the economy of the country, the country will rise.”
And if more women could access opportunities at the top of organizations, the results would speak for themselves. “Leadership matters – it’s just that women aren’t at the right place,” she observed. “If we had enough women leaders at the top in many places, they would be better.”
In Africa, we started having this conversation with the men. It’s time to bring them into the room and sit at the table.- Patrice Juah, a Liberian poet, women’s education advocate, and global civil rights professor
Each of our panelists has forged an inspiring path in what could be regarded as traditionally male-dominated spheres, from entrepreneurship and international advocacy to academia. Their own stories, of grasping opportunity and stepping up to the plate when it mattered, resonated with our audience.
“Women need to be sensitive to the things around them and seize the moment,” said Juah. “Seizing moments is one of the pathways.”
Richter urged more women to take what she called “calculated risks” to overcome hurdles as part of an intentional approach.
“Just go for it, even if it’s out of your comfort zone. We have to have the courage to go for it and to always know your ‘why’ – the reason you are doing it. That is the red thread,” she said. “Every day is a dress rehearsal for what is to come. What is the situation? What can you learn from it for whatever is coming next in your life?
Men need to be more accountable for the part they play, and have played, in creating and sustaining inequality. But they also need to be included in the discussion about how to move forward. In other words, men need to become allies for change while taking on ownership for leading change.
“In Africa, we started having this conversation with the men,” Juah said. “It’s time to bring them into the room and sit at the table.”
Three decades on from Beijing, there is every reason to look back positively at how far we’ve come. However, as we face renewed opposition to gender equality, the anniversary of that landmark declaration is a powerful reminder that the fight is far from over. It’s a call to action to double our efforts to ensure that the hard-won gains of the last three decades can be defended and surpassed.
“The Beijing declaration was the foundation for so much that has happened over the last 30 years,” said Richter.
While support for workplace LGBTQ+ programs has dropped to just 38% globally, cities with strong inclusion policies demonstrate four times higher human capital performance and double the innovation scores than their less...
While some organizations retreat from inclusion commitments under political pressure, the path to lasting transformation lies in embedding diversity deeply within core values rather than treating it as a compliance issue. Leaders...
As Pride Month celebrations fade, sobering data reveals the persistent workplace challenges facing LGBTQ+ employees globally. From the ‘gay glass ceiling’ blocking executive advancement to six in 10 LGBTQ+ Europeans hiding their...
In an interactive online panel organized by IMD and IMD's Inclusive Leadership Alumni Community, business leaders from various industries shared strategies for maintaining authentic LGBTQ+ inclusion in order to create inclusive, resilient...
Explore first person business intelligence from top minds curated for a global executive audience