Several Top Leaders of the World Economic Forum This Year Face Scandals

This year, many of the usual attendees and alumni of the World Economic Forum in Davos have come under scrutiny. A horde of the top Forum leaders have faced allegations of sexual harassment, mismanagement, and financial misconduct—some choosing to forgo the panel and some deciding to return and face their scandals head on. So far, 25 of the WEF alumni have faced misconduct claims—24 men and one woman. The entire business community that’s represented at the panel has come under fire for bad practices, including sexism, harassment, hostile work environments, and ageism complaints. At the panel, the executives and leaders will focus on ameliorating these issues as well as focusing five sessions on both challenges and opportunities for women in society. Although the percentage of female attendees has increased from last year, women will still only account for 22 percent of the attendees—mimicking larger gender trends in business and society and building on WEF’s annual study released last month, which revealed we’re still probably a century away from achieving complete gender parity.