Not Enough Women In Senior Positions In Malaysia?
While progress on the overall number of women in senior leadership continues, it is slow in Malaysia, says a report.
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Globally, while there is a heightened awareness of gender equality, in particular, for women empowerment, there is still a lack of women in senior positions in Malaysia, a new report says.
The Grant Thornton International Business Report: Women in Business 2023 states that only 40 percent of senior management positions in this country are held by women, the percentage remaining the same as the previous year’s.
As reported by Bernama, Grant Thornton partner of quality management Silvia Tan said:
While progress on the overall number of women in senior leadership continues, it is slow in Malaysia, which is something to be concerned about. Research also reveals that our progress is at risk of regressing.
Grant Thornton partner of quality management Silvia Tan
Additionally, the report also found that on a global scale, 32.4 percent of senior management positions in mid-market businesses are now held by women.
This is an increase of half a percentage point since 2022 and just 13 percentage points since the research was first undertaken in 2004.
Grant Thornton partner of quality management Silvia Tan
Tan also told Bernama that, at the rate we are currently at, women will only hold 34 percent of senior leadership positions around the world by 2025.
Based on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report, it will take another 132 years to address the global gender gap.
Grant Thornton partner of quality management Silvia Tan
The report also pointed out that working models have a significant impact on the number of women in senior management.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, it found that 45 percent of businesses are now purely office-based while 52 percent have hybrid and flexible approaches and the remaining three percent home-based.
According to Tan, with close to half of businesses back to being office-based, this impacts the progress to promote female leadership.
This is because without flexible working practices, they tend to be less attractive to senior women.
If those businesses don’t embrace hybrid or flexible ways of working, women may drop out of their current positions and consider working part-time or even starting their own ventures.
Grant Thornton partner of quality management Silvia Tan
Moreover, the report also found that amid a global skills shortage and talent crisis, businesses that adopt flexible working models may also reap the benefits of improved cross-border working and access to a larger talent pool such as people with disabilities, those living in geographically remote locations or people seeking better work-life balance.
On the other hand, Tan also pointed out that companies that comply with their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals tend to have higher female representation and are less likely to exaggerate their sustainability credentials.
Women in senior leadership tend to be more open and honest about their companies’ ESG performance and are less prone to greenwashing as they are more likely than men to speak out against unethical behaviour as well as support environmentally-conscious decisions.
Grant Thornton partner of quality management Silvia Tan
The report surveyed senior leaders from 5,000 businesses between Oct and Nov last year across 29 economies.
If you would like a copy of the full report, it can be downloaded here.
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