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ADB hosts PSDI Leadership Matters roundtable in Marshall Islands
Government, business, and civil society representatives in the Republic of the Marshall Islands have convened at an Asian Development Bank-hosted (ADB) roundtable to discuss the findings of the Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative’s (PSDI) study on women in Pacific business leadership.
Leadership Matters: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific collected and analyzed data on women’s representation in business leadership in ADB’s 14 Pacific developing member countries (DMCs), establishing a baseline for women’s representation in senior business leadership, and comparing these findings to regional and global averages.
HE Brek Batley, Australian Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, comments on PSDI's Leadership Matters study.
From the 13 organizations in the Marshall Islands sampled in 2021 for Leadership Matters, a quarter of all board directors were women. This representation was higher than the 17% global average and 21% regional average. However, no women chief executive officers were recorded.
More than 30 people convened on 8 April 2022 in Majuro to discuss Leadership Matters, and the ways in which barriers to women’s full economic participation endure in the Marshall Islands and across the Pacific.
A quarter of all board directors sampled in the Marshall Islands were women, but no chief executive officers were recorded.
After opening remarks by Marshall Islands Secretary of Finance Patrick Langrine, ADB Senior Country Officer Ellen Paul presented the key findings of Leadership Matters and opened the floor for discussions and group activities.
HE Brek Batley, the Australian Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, offered closing remarks to those in attendance.
“If you don’t have both men and women sitting at the table, you’re not going to be as productive, as profitable, as community driven,” Mr Batley said.
More than 30 people attended the roundtable in Majuro.
PSDI is an ADB technical assistance program in partnership with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. It supports ADB’s Pacific DMCs to improve the enabling environment for business and to achieve inclusive, private sector-led economic growth, including through reforms designed to enhance the economic empowerment of women.
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