WASHINGTON, DC (CMC) — More than 200 leaders from the private sector, governments, multilateral development banks, bilateral agencies and civil society in the region are meeting here Wednesday to share successful and innovative initiatives to help shape the gender equality agenda in the coming years.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which is collaborating with the World Bank in convening the two-day Sixth Summit of the Working Group on Gender, said the challenges being faced by these institutions are among the questions being discussed at the event.

It said that the goal of the summit “Stereotypes & Opportunities: Women’s Economic Empowerment, is to facilitate the exchange of best practices and evidence-based approaches to advance the economic empowerment of women worldwide.

Specifically, the female labour market participation, the wage gap, selecting no studies or work in traditionally female sectors, entrepreneurship and women’s leadership, are among the topics to be discussed in depth during this event, the IDB said.

Despite the growing recognition that economic empowerment of women is essential to achieve development objectives, such as reducing poverty, promoting inclusive economic growth and productivity-increasing, many women around the world continue to see limited their ability to achieve economic change in their lives, the IDB said.

“These challenges threaten our ability to create economic opportunities for both women and men,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno.

“For this reason, we have prioritized an ambitious gender agenda at work within our institution and in the region.”

Panellists at the summit, which ends on Thursday, include experts from the five multilateral development banks that form the gender working group, namely the African Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the IDB,  as well as representatives of numerous regional governments.