World Economic Forum founder and chairman Klaus Schwab has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple former female staffers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, with other former WEF employees accusing the 86-year-old German economist of creating a toxic workplace full of discrimination and racial slurs.
According to the report from the Journal, more than a dozen female staffers have gone on record alleging that they experienced sexual harassment from Schwab and other higher-ups at the WEF, ranging from suggestive comments to inappropriate behavior. The complaints shared with the outlet allege that women working for the WEF are routinely sexualized and objectified.
Several women claim to have been harassed by WEF leadership during the annual gatherings in Davos, Switzerland, where “female staff were expected to be at the delegates’ beck and call.” Sexual contact between VIPs and Forum staffers during the summit is reportedly called “White-on-Blue action,” referring to the badge colors assigned to each group. The Forum denies any knowledge of this term and says that it takes reports of harassment seriously.
One woman, a European staffer who worked for the WEF in Geneva in the 2000s, claims that Schwab once “propped his leg up on her desk with his crotch in front of her face and told her he wished she was Hawaiian because he’d like to see her in a Hawaiian costume.” The so-called “crotch pose” was said to be a frequent stance for Schwab while speaking with female employees. Though Schwab never crossed the line to physical contact, the staffer described his frequent suggestive remarks as “a horrible thing as a woman to go through.”
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Generally, Schwab’s behavior towards the women in his orbit was described as “more awkward than menacing, but inappropriate for a leader.” Per the Journal, “Since the Forum’s earliest years, staffers say women received warnings about Schwab: If you find yourself alone with him, he may make uncomfortable comments about your appearance.”
This often took the form of comments about a woman’s weight, facial features, and style of dress.
“I knew he liked me and I knew he found me pretty,” said Myriam Boussina, who worked at the Forum in the 1990s as Schwab’s personal assistant. “Every man with a lot of power, they think that they can get any woman and they are not ashamed…You could not go and complain, it was impossible.”
More than once, Schwab is said to have told women: “I need to find you a man, and if I were not married, I would put myself on the top of that list.” Schwab has been married to his wife Hilde, his former assistant, since 1971.
Another woman who spoke to the Journal said that there was “a lot of pressure to be good-looking and wear tight dresses,” adding “Never in my career have I experienced looks being such an important topic as in the Forum.”
At least six former WEF employees claim that they were pushed out or saw their careers suffer after getting pregnant or returning from maternity leave, with one woman claiming that Schwab himself had told her she would not be suited for the pace of a leadership role after she announced her pregnancy.
Responding to the Journal’s allegations, the WEF—which did not make Schwab personally available for comment—said the report is a “mischaracteriz[ation of] our organization, culture and colleagues, including our founder.”
A spokesperson further said that the sexual harassment allegations against Schwab were unfounded. “Mr. Schwab does not and has never engaged in the vulgar behaviors you describe,” the Forum stated, emphasizing that the European staffer’s allegations could not be true because Schwab “wasn’t familiar with Hawaiian costumes.”
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However, the allegations of workplace misconduct at the World Economic Forum included more than just sexual harassment. The Journal reports interviewing more than 80 current and former WEF staffers about their experiences with the Forum as far back as the 1980s. Many of these unnamed employees have bonded over shared trauma in a WhatsApp group chat called “WEFugees,” which has several hundred members.
According to many of these staffers, the WEF also routinely engages in discrimination on the basis of race, age, and other protected factors. In one incident, a human resources director was told to fire all WEF employees over the age of 50 after Schwab decided the Forum needed a “youthful makeover.” When the HR director declined, he was fired instead.
“It was distressing to witness colleagues visibly withdraw from themselves with the onslaught of harassment at the hands of high-level staff, going from social and cheerful to self-isolating, avoiding eye contact, sharing nightmares for years after,” said Farid Ben Amor, a former U.S. media executive who worked at the Forum for more than a year before resigning in 2019. “It’s particularly distressing when contrasted with the eagerness and earnestness with which many of us joined the Forum.”
Other complaints from recent years claim that White WEF managers openly used the N-word in front of Black employees, passed them over for promotions and raises, and excluded them from the annual Davos summits.
Related: Klaus Schwab Stepping Down from Executive Role at World Economic Forum
One incident in 2018 involved Operations Chief Jean-Loup Denereaz belittling a Black woman on his staff by mumbling “What can you expect from a n****r” during a dispute. He was fired within days of the remark.
Another involved a manager from South Africa remarking that a certain chocolate-covered candy had once been called “n****r-balls” in Denmark, which a nearby Black employee found triggering. The manager was later reprimanded for her comments, at which point she cried about her “ancestral guilt” and asked the offended employee to organize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training for her department.
The WEF has long prided itself on its commitment to the principles of DEI, which it encourages governments and corporations around the world to adopt. However, according to many of its minority employees, these ideals are rarely realized within the Forum itself.
“All the staff members [at Davos] are white and from Europe,” wrote Kimberly Bennett, a Black employee who worked in Geneva and had helped lead the Black employee resource group, in a letter to HR earlier this year. “What does it say about our commitment to DEI if most of the representatives we choose to send to our most important event are white?”
Responding to these latter allegations, the WEF stated that it promotes employees based solely on merit and performance, denying any accusations that it turns a blind eye to discrimination.
Last month, Klaus Schwab announced that he is stepping down from his executive position at the WEF after more than 50 years at the helm of the organization.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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