'Davos wife' shrugs off gender imbalance to become leader at annual forum

When Patricia Villela Marino first came to Davos, Switzerland, nine years ago, she would stay up late to make an online bid to get into the World Economic Forum's panels. She was accompanying her husband, a Brazilian banker, and there were no seating guarantees.

This year, as a delegate in her own right, she attended about 40 panels or sessions connected with the forum, ranging from leadership to public policy. With a law degree from a Brazilian university, Marino oversees a fund that invests in social policy initiatives and is working on issues including legalizing marijuana for medical treatment.

"I had two options: be in Zurich shopping and then hop in my husband in his comfy car, or wake up and hop on the shuttle" in hopes of getting into early morning sessions, said Marino, 44, gesticulating to make her point at a table in a hotel near the congress center, wearing a gray shawl and black leggings. "It's up to the women to be willing to come, leave family behind."

At about 17 percent, female attendance at the annual gathering of the rich and powerful has mostly stagnated in recent years, with gender parity decades away. Marino and other women in Davos last week said they were more focused on the enormous benefit they received - and gave - than on waiting for diversity initiatives to bear fruit.

Gender parity

Marino, who lives in Sao Paulo, said she didn't see her own role in Davos as promoting gender parity, though to not acknowledge it wouldn't be acceptable either.

"I don't want to raise the flag that women are a minority and need to be treated differently," she said. "In Davos, it's clear that you have to go to the world and make your mark."

Gender parity wasn't on Tamar Beruchashvili's mind either. The foreign minister of Georgia spent her time holding bilateral meetings.

"I'm here as a professional with a lot of responsibility," said Beruchashvili, a first-time attendee. Women make up a larger number of younger leaders than ever before: Fifty-four percent of the forum's Global Shapers community of 50 leaders between 20 and 30 years old were female, for instance. Marino is a member of its foundation board.

As the forum's discussions wrapped up, the WEF said delegates saw 2015 as a landmark year for progress in achieving gender parity, though not enough has been done. Among government officials at Davos, only 14 percent were women, while one in four academics was female, according to the WEF.

"The pace of change has been slow," Saadia Zahidi, head of the WEF Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program, said in an interview ahead of the event. She noted that the WEF's research shows there has been little progress on gender inequality worldwide.