A quarter of Singaporean businesses have no women in senior leadership roles: survey

ASEAN peers outperform in terms of equality.

Senior management positions remain elusive for Singaporean women in 2016, according to a survey by international audit, tax and advisory services firm Grant Thornton.

The survey showed that 25% of businesses in Singapore have no women in senior management positions, hugher compared to just 18% last year. However, this figure is lower than the regional average of 31%.

Meanwhile, just 26% of senior management roles in Singapore are held by women, slightly higher than the regional average of 23%. However, this is below 39% in the Philippines, 37% in Thailand, and 36% in Indonesia.

Globally, the proportion of senior business roles held by women stands at 24%, up slightly from 22% in 2015.

However, this minor uplift has coincided with an increase in the percentage of firms with no women in senior management, at 33% in 2016 compared to 32% last year.

“The global trend of emerging economies outperforming their developed peers when it comes to diversity in business leadership is particularly visible in the APAC region. The Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia are among the world’s ten best-performing nations when it comes to the occupation of senior business positions by women. In these nations, a well-established culture of women receiving further education and advocacy of the women in business cause has spurred change,” said Lorraine Parkin, Head of Indirect Tax APAC.