A group of high-powered women at the World Economic Forum pushed today for better representation at the elite gathering.
"There should be an insistence that each company's delegation include women, because our voices are essential in discussion of the economic future of the world and the fragility of the system," US former Secretary of State Ms Madeleine Albright said at a news conference.
Of the roughly 2,700 leaders of business, government and the arts convened for this year's forum, only 10 per cent are women, which still is an increase from the meeting's early years, when only a handful of women attended.
Ms Albright was joined at the news conference by an all-female panel including Latvian President Ms Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the chief executive officer of Vivendi Universal Publishing, Ms Agnes Touraine, US Labour Secretary Ms Elaine Chao, and television broadcaster Ms Barbara Walters.
All had attended an earlier meeting to launch the forum's Women Leaders Initiative, but Ms Walters noted the group had been denied a place on the main forum program.
"People often say that there is a glass ceiling," Ms Laura Liswood, secretary-general of the Council of Women World Leaders, said. "And my reflection on that is, it's just a thick layer of men."
Others supporting the initiative were Queen Rania of Jordan and US Senator Mrs Hillary Clinton.