ASEAN sees more women in leadership positions
- Daniel Teo
- Topics: Asia-Pacific, DE&I, Home Page - News, News, Singapore, Southeast Asia
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has seen its percentage of women in senior management going up from 28% to 35%, according to the latest Grant Thornton’s International Business Report.
The region came in third in the top five regions in terms of the proportion of women in senior management behind Africa which came in first with 38% and second placed Eastern Europe with 35%.
Meanwhile in Singapore, the number of women in C-suite positions has grown in 2020. The research has seen 2% more female CEOs, 4% more COOs and 9% more CFOs in comparison to 2019.
Read: More than half of women in Singapore feel underpaid
There has also been a positive trend among businesses with the number of organisations having no women in senior leadership decreasing. In 2020, only 10% of businesses in Singapore had no women in senior management, as compared to 36% in 2017, 22% in 2018 and 13% in 2019.
Francesca Lagerberg, global leader at Grant Thornton International said, “If we want to continue to see more women in senior positions, businesses need to be intentional. Policies that ensure diversity of thought at the decision-making table, that address equal opportunity in career development and bias in recruitment and develop inclusive cultures can’t just be a nice to have – they are a must.
“Once implemented, these policies must be enforced and regularly reassessed to judge their effectiveness. When that is combined with real commitment from senior leadership, only then will real transformational change take place.”
