Better Gender Balance at Top Helps Both Women and Men

Exposure to female leaders improves people’s attitudes toward all women

Women bring diverse views that improve political and corporate decision making

International institutions have responsibility to design policies that tap female potential

Life is improving for women around the globe. Women are now more educated than men in many countries, for example. But equality at the top—in economic policymaking, in politics, in jobs that offer decision-making power—remains an aspiration. Achieving it would change the world altogether and translate into good news for both women and men.

The recently released June 2013 issue of F&D magazine looks at how U.S. female economists view national issues compared with their male counterparts; how a policy experiment in India proves putting women in power can change attitudes toward all females; and how giving women real power can make businesses in Africa blossom. And Christine Lagarde dares women to think, speak, and operate differently—to make a world of difference, now and in the future.

Policy design is important path to equity

Women’s entry to the workplace and halls of government in the 20th century was a major turning point toward gender equity. But the gains made since then, while impressive in areas like education and health, have not been enough to realize women’s full potential, according to IMF economist Janet Stotsky. Some of the onus to effect change is on organizations that can design policies to tap that potential. For example, writes Stotsky, “international financial institutions like the IMF can help reform tax and financial legislation to ensure equal rights for women, or help design a social safety net that factors in the disproportionate poverty of households headed by women.”

Women are too often second-class citizens even when they are admitted to the labor market. They are paid less, hold few corporate board seats, and are being hit harder by the global economic crisis than men, says IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. But making things better for women doesn’t help them alone. More women working and in positions of power boosts economic growth, tempers risky decisions, builds human capital. Put simply, women’s different viewpoint brings a different perspective to the table. Lagarde calls it “daring the difference.”

As more women enter previously male-dominated professions like economics, the change in gender balance will help shape policy debates. A study by University of...