The World Economic Forum (WEF) holds its 54th Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week. The theme this year, amidst political, institutional, security, inequality and other crises, is ‘Rebuilding Trust’. I am suggesting in the title of my article that it is urgent to rebuild trust to maintain and expand diversity in democratic participation. The founding chairman of WEF, Professor Klaus Schwab, is an optimist, believing that discussion and debate will lead to better solutions. The core philosophy of WEF is that the corporate sector and other stakeholders must keep talking and exchange ideas. True to that, Schwab emphasized in an introductory interview that we must always keep hope, without which we are certainly unable to find new solutions.
I shall in this article take stock of the situation in an optimistic tone, well, in spite of the many dark clouds on the horizon, and the many problems that we have allowed to grow roots, resulting in wars and conflicts, climate crises, inequalities and more. We have seen the problems without addressing them upfront. As for growing diversity in leadership positions, though, we have seen new developments, which I will specify below. The private sector, which has the majority of the participants at the WEF meeting, has not played the proactive change role they should have in order to contribute to a better and more equal world at the same time as everyone knows that equality and diversity is essential for peace, security and a world which is good for all, indeed also for the private sector in making money.
Haq Bahu conference held But before I drift back to the problems, the crises and Gordian knots, which is so easy to do, let me keep my promise of being optimist when describing some key aspects of the situation in the world we live in. First, we live in a time with better living conditions for more people than ever before. More people receive basic and further education; one result of that is that people have smaller families and therefore achieve a higher living standard. More people have access to health services and better nutrition. People live longer and have a better life in old age, not the least in the West where pensions are available for all. But work conditions and fair pay have not improved as fast as they should have, and cigarette smoking and drug abuse remain serious problems, and contagious diseases and pandemics. I hope that those who are young today will work deliberately to create labour organizations and develop sound cooperation with the employers’ organizations, supported by the governments.
3-member dacoits gang busted: Police It is a fact that women generally are doing better in our time than ever before. The winner of the Memorial Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2023, Claudia Goldin, has studied the history of women in the labour market. She has documented that progress in equality for women has indeed taken place, but it hasn’t always been a linear progress. The general picture is that women are today more included in politics and hold more power than before, although not in all countries and in all sectors. It is inevitable that women will continue to have a greater say than before. Girls and women do better than boys and men in education.
In the last century, it wasn’t only women who broke the glass ceiling, but also poor and ordinary people who managed to get into good and powerful positions, at work and in politics. The chance for ordinary men, and later also for women, has changed the composition of politicians, civil service and the private sector. However, in the latter, there are still very few women CEOs. In politics, there is a need for more people from working class backgrounds.
Man killed by rival group in Sargodha As for ethnic diversity, we have seen clear changes in recent years; in Ireland, Leo Varadkar (44), who is of mixed Indian and Irish background, has for the second time become PM. In France, Gabrial Attal (34) became France’s new PM a few weeks ago. He is the youngest ever to be PM in that country, and he is of French, Russian and Jewish-Tunisian heritage. These top politicians are openly gay. In the UK, Rishi Sunak (43) is of Hindu Indian background, born to parents who migrated from East Africa to the UK in the early 1960s. These are examples of leaders who it would have been unthinkable to see in such high posts just a few decades ago.
As for religion, even that is not a major issue in European countries anymore, although Christianity is still the majority religion in most of the otherwise secular countries. Islam is a growing religion in Europe, but still in single digests percentagewise. Let us recall, too, that in USA, it was earlier an issue if a presidential candidate was not a Protestant Christian. John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic Christian to become president in USA in 1961, and the current President Joe Biden, is the second one. Let us also recall that Barak Obama was the first of African background, or rather mixed African-European background, to become president in USA. Every year, the third Monday in January is the Martin Luther King Jr. Day in USA; this year, the holiday fell on 15 January. It is a reminder to his assassination in 1968 and to the work of the Civil Rights Movement. True, there is still much to be done in that field in USA and elsewhere in the world, as there is as regards gender equality and the other fields of disparities I have mentioned – essential to bridge to recreate trust.
Two killed, five injured in road mishap In spite of all these good statistics, the life is also very difficult for many, with up to one billion of the world’s people living below the poverty line or in absolute poverty, mainly in developing countries. That is unworthy in a world which has never been as rich as today. For some, the living conditions are worsening, in cities and in rural areas, indeed for ethnic minorities in remote areas and refugees everywhere. There are also growing differences between the middle classes and the very rich. Not only the latter, but all the disparity issues are being discussed at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos this week, with the corporate sector being reminded of its growing role to contribute more to solve the difficult situations and rebuild trust.
Professor Schwab of WEF said we need to have hope, be optimistic and talk more together to find good solutions. WEF is a meeting and networking place and it plays an important role in creating awareness about issues among the top corporate and other leaders. This year, war and security issues have had a central place, as they should have. However, I don’t think WEF can do much in those fields, since the Annual Meeting is more about politics than economics. Yet, the corporate sector needs peace and security to do business.
Rural education struggle The corporate sector and WEF should mainly be concerned about hove to maintain and expand diversity, and how the corporate sector can do more, and that is precisely in WEF’s spirit, namely a call for greater, more ethical participation by the corporate sector and its collaborate with the political and other sectors. It is high time that the corporate sector plays a greater role, pays more tax and collaborates better with the public sector; it is late, but there may still be time if action comes soon – in a true spirit towards common goals that are good for all, indeed those who are the bottom of society, whose trust and participation is essential to build peace and prosperity.
Atle Hetland
The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist with experience from university, diplomacy and development aid. He can be reached at atlehetland@ yahoo.com
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