Press Release No. 17/385

International Monetary Fund’s Commitment to Gender Equality in the Workplace Confirmed Through EDGE Certification

October 3, 2017

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is delighted to announce it has received the ASSESS level of EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) Certification. EDGE is the leading business certification for gender equality in the workplace, worldwide. This certification recognizes the IMF’s commitment to and progress in monitoring, benchmarking, and achieving workplace gender equality. Receiving the ASSESS certification means the Fund has already achieved landmark progress in ensuring that diversity and equality are an integral part of its work and values.

The IMF promotes the full participation of women in the workforce globally. This empowers women, and makes sound economic sense. The IMF believes it is equally important that women are fully represented in the institution’s own staffing. Benchmarks for women representation have been in place since 2003, and significant progress has been made with women now accounting for 44 percent of the IMF’s total staff and 28 percent of senior management. The IMF expects to accelerate this progress and has committed to specific actions to achieve this result. The IMF has also gone beyond gender and committed to apply the EDGE methodology to assess its staffing on a regional basis, with emphasis on underrepresented regions. The IMF is the first institution to use the EDGE methodology on both a gender and regional basis. Commitment to the EDGE process will help the Fund validate its progress against an important external benchmark.

“We are honored to be credited for our commitment to diversity and inclusion at the IMF” said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “The diversity of our staff is inherent to who we are, and building inclusion is integral to what we do. We are proud of the progress we have made and we are determined to do more. We will continue to raise the bar on our performance, accountability and transparency in these important areas.”

“The IMF, by becoming EDGE Certified, is sending a powerful message to not only its 189 member countries but also to the rest of the world, that gender equality is a global imperative for economic growth. EDGE congratulates IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde and the IMF on its commitment to gender equality and its important leadership in this area” says Aniela Unguresan, Co-Founder, EDGE Certified Foundation.

About the IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

Created in 1945, the IMF is governed by and accountable to the 189 countries that make up its near-global membership.

For further information, visit www.imf.org or follow us on Twitter @IMFNEWS and #IMFGender.

About EDGE Certification

EDGE is the leading global assessment methodology and business certification standard for gender equality. EDGE Certification has been designed to help organizations not only create an optimal workplace for women and men, but also benefit from it.

EDGE stands for Economic Dividends for Gender Equality and is distinguished by its rigor and focus on business impact. The methodology uses a business, rather than theoretical approach that incorporates benchmarking, metrics and accountability into the process. It assesses policies, practices and numbers across five different areas of analysis: equal pay for equivalent work, recruitment and promotion, leadership development training and mentoring, flexible working and organization culture.

EDGE is working with more than 170 organizations in over 40 countries and 22 industries.

The EDGE assessment methodology was developed by the EDGE Certified Foundation and launched at the World Economic Forum in 2011.

For further information, please visit www.edge-cert.org or follow us on Twitter  @EDGE_CERT

Media Contacts

International Monetary Fund:

Wafa Amr
Senior Communications Officer
+1 202-677-8079
wamr@imf.org

EDGE Strategy:

Aniela Unguresan
Co-Founder
+41 41 530 11 49
info@edge-strategy.com