Shirley Boskey – The First Female Department
Director of the World Bank

NUMBER 042
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: MAY 2005




                          January 2016
The World Bank Group Archives Exhibit Series contains exhibits originally
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Shirley Boskey – The First Female Department Director of the
World Bank

Shirley Boskey, a native of New York City, graduated
from Vassar College, then attended Columbia
University law school, and received her law degree
from George Washington University. Before joining the
World Bank she served as a lawyer at the U.S.
Department of Interior. During her service at the Bank
she contributed to the drafting of the charters of the
IDA and IFC and was “one of the group of Bank staff
which first considered the possibilities of multilateral
investment insurance� (The Bank’s World, February
1983, p. 10).

As the Director of the International Relations               Shirley Boskey, Director of
                                                             the International Relations
Department she was responsible for managing the               Department, 1975-1983
World Bank’s relationship with other intergovernmental
organizations such as the United Nations. As a result
of her efforts the Bank’s relationship with the agencies of the UN system became
much stronger.

       “I’ve always felt it a necessity that there be association and understanding
       between the Bank and the U.N., because through understanding and
       cooperation comes support,� said Ms. Boskey upon her retirement in
       January 1983 in the interview with Thierry Sagnier (The Bank’s World,
       February 1983, p. 10).

After her retirement she continued to contribute to the Bank by serving eight
years as the President of the 1818 Society, the retirement association for staff of
the World Bank Group, and later wrote its history. Shirley was known to her
colleagues in the Bank and other international institutions for her professional
excellence, institutional knowledge and strong diplomatic skills. Shirley Boskey
died on October 13, 1998 but the memories on her many accomplishments live
on.

       “She was the best mentor I could have had when I joined her department
       in the early 70s at a time when a young woman needed all help she could
       get in navigating the male-dominated Bank. She taught me that it was not
       only possible to make a career in the Bank, but that it could be done with
       elegance, charm and graciousness. She taught me to listen even when
bored, to ask questions, and not to take myself too seriously.� Anne
Vaughn (1818 Society Newsletter, October/November 1998, p. 46)

“During my twenty years in Washington she became professor and
personal friend as I developed confidence in her exceptional combination
of gifts, allowing her to apply a high level of competence, subtlety, humor
and good judgment to many problems.� Bernard Chadenet (1818 Society
Newsletter, October/November 1998, p. 48)