ADB to raise number of women among international staff

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) wants to expand the representation of women among the multilateral lender’s international staff in the next four years.

“We adopted a target of increasing international staff women representation ... by the end of 2022,” ADB president Takehiko Nakao said in a speech during the International Women’s Day celebration in Manila.

Nakao noted that the lender aims to improve beyond the 35-percent representation of women in the bank.

“As of the end of 2017, the proportion of international staff women surpassed 35 percent, our highest level yet and an increase from 34 percent in 2016,” he said.

“This gain was supported through sustained recruitment rates and a higher retention of women. We need to continue this rate of progress,” he said.

“While nearly 59 percent of all ADB staff are women, we need to do more to improve representation of women in international staff,” Nakao said. —VDS, GMA News