CGD Podcast: Supporting Women Economists in Latin America with Ana María Ibáñez

Development institutions have come a long way on diversity. Yet, while women make up almost 70 percent of administrative roles at international financial institutions (IFIs), they only represent about 35 percent of managerial roles. Fewer than one in five IFI board members are women.

Building on the conversations I had with Amie Batson and Francisco Ferreira in October, CGD's 9th Annual Birdsall House Conference on Gender Equality shined a spotlight on the challenges women face rising to leadership positions at IFIs.

On this episode of the CGD Podcast, I'm pleased to continue those conversations with Ana María Ibáñez, Vice President of Sectors and Knowledge at the Interamerican Development Bank. Ana María has played a key role in mentoring other women in the field, and is one of the authors of a new report on The Status of Women in the Economics Profession in Latin America, which presents findings from a 2022 survey of universities and research institutions across 10 Latin American countries.

Together we discuss the statistics revealed in the report, the reflection of cultural norms in education and the workplace, and the importance of role models and mentors in shaping expectations.

Resources

Stereotype threat and women’s perceptions about math skills:

• Stereotype Threat and Women's Math Performance, ScienceDirect
• Implicit Stereotypes: Evidence from Teachers’ Gender Bias, Oxford Academic

Importance of role models: 

• Role Models in Developing Countries, Texas A&M University
• Female Leadership Raises Aspirations and Educational Attainment for Girls: A Policy Experiment in India, Science 

Child penalty in wages in Latin America: 

• The last hurdle? Unyielding motherhood effects in the context of declining gender inequality in Latin America, Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales

Claudia Goldin on the gender wage gap: 

• A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter, American Economic Association
• The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family, American Economic Association

Time poverty of women: 

• Class and Gender-based Working Time? Time Poverty and the Division of Domestic Labour, Sociology
• Working Long Hours and Having No Choice: Time Poverty in Guinea, Feminist Economics

The importance of mentorship:

• Can Mentoring Help Female Assistant Professors in Economics? An Evaluation by Randomized Trial, American Economic Association

Extended parental leave: 

• A Flying Start? Maternity Leave Benefits and Long-Run Outcomes of Children, Journal of Political Economy
• Causal Effects of Paternity Leave on Children and Parents, The Scandinavian Journal of Economics