Glass ceilings on agenda of World Economic Forum

Davos

AS a top executive in the financial industry, Theresa Whitmarsh is accustomed to being the only woman in the room. That was the case the last two years when she attended the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, a conclave for the world's most powerful leaders and tycoons.

And Ms Whitmarsh may well be in a similar situation again this year. Women are severely underrepresented at Davos - an elite shoptalk gathering that has been played up as the best networking event of the year, where heads of state, central bankers, chief executives and billionaire investors meet to talk about foreign and economic policy, among many other things.

Of the 2,500 participants at the annual meeting, which officially begins on Wednesday, just 17.8 per cent are women, according to the forum. While that is a slight improvement over previous years, it still reflects the reality of geopolitical and economic power today: men are almost alw…