Almost 80% of delegates at the gathering of the world’s rich and powerful in the Swiss mountains next week will be men

Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum (WEF) founder whose headquarters are the chrome and glass of a Bond villain’s lair, introduced this year’s event by saying: “The world around us is changing at unprecedented speed.” But it seems nothing has changed when it comes to the lack of women at Davos.

Five years ago, when I was the Guardian’s women’s editor, I was sent to report on gender diversity at Davos. I dragged my short, not very masculine, body to the oddly bleak Swiss village to watch the world’s rich and powerful consort.

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Being neither rich nor powerful, it would be fair to say that I stood out. But it would be more accurate to say that I was literally overlooked during my time there, as men tend to be taller than 5ft 2.

In 2012, women made up 17% of the delegates. When business and political leaders meet in Davos next week, still almost 80% of the 3,000 delegates will be men.

Recognising the overwhelming proportion of men among its attendees, the WEF, which organises the talkfest each year, introduced a quota system in 2011. This meant that the group of megacorps designated “strategic partners”, the 100 leading global companies, had to bring one woman for every four men. Some chose to pay for only four places rather than try to find that elusive beast, a powerful woman. Not much has changed.

Anyone used to working in a male-dominated environment – and most governments and big companies are – would recognise the atmosphere in Davos. Although most of the business is done behind closed doors, men pack the stages and each gathering presents a sea of dark suits and a low-toned hubbub. I carried heels everywhere as flat snow boots meant a crooked neck, or even worse, being talked down to.

There were special programmes of fun-filled events for “wives”, although that has changed, I think.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Dark suits and low-toned hubbub’: inside the conference centre in Davos. Photograph: Ruben Sprich/Reuters

There were brilliant women there, of course, with a series of special events and even a slightly gruesomely named Girls’ Lounge, as there will be again next week.

WEF has tried to bring about change and 90% of panels this year will include at least one woman. Three out of five co-chairs of the 2017 event are women, as is the head programme designer, Emma Benameur. As ever, among the younger attendees, there is a greater proportion of women. Also, the quotas have brought some change, albeit glacial. Women made up just 9% of Davos attendees in 2002.

The organisers of Davos, an expensive and bewildering event, blame the fact that most global organisations rich enough to send anyone there tend to be led by men. The governments of the UK and Germany may be led by women but most European parliaments are still overwhelmingly male. Yet one third of the delegates come from non governmental organisations such as academia or the media. Go figure.

Each year, studies point out that companies perform better when they have at least one woman on the board, such as one from accountancy firm Grant Thornton in 2015, called Women in business: the value of diversity. Still no major change.

At the start of 2016, women as a topic ranked among the top three issues at Davos, the third most tweeted, right up there with refugees and climate change. Given where we have got to on the other two, perhaps it’s no surprise that so little has changed when it comes to the number of women.