Research
Females worldwide still struggling to get into senior management
A survey of 7,200 companies in 32 countries has found that
38% of businesses do not have any women in senior management, a figure which has
remained unchanged since 2004, according to Grant
Thornton International, which carried out the research.
The Philippines had the highest percentage of companies
with women in senior management roles (98%) while Japan had the lowest with only
25%. Four out of five countries with the lowest figures are in Europe: the
Netherlands (27%), Luxembourg (37%), Germany (41%) and Italy (42%).
Over half of all European businesses surveyed have women
participating in senior management (52%), while 68% of companies in the North
American Free Trade Area (US, Canada and Mexico) have females in senior roles.
Within these regions European companies had 4% more women in senior management
whereas NAFTA countries had 6% more compared with 2004. However, Mexico alone
recorded a 24% drop in businesses with female senior managers.
The percentage of women in senior management positions
globally has risen from 19% in 2004 to 22% currently . Again, the Philippines
performs the best with half of all managerial positions being held by females.
Japan is ranked at the bottom of the survey with just 7% of senior roles being
held by a woman, below Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands with 10%, 12% and
13% respectively.
Meanwhile, research by
PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the number of
female senior managers working in FTSE 350 companies has fallen by over 40% in
the last five years . In 2002 some 38% of
senior manager level posts in the FTSE 350 were occupied by women, but this has
now dropped to just 22%.
At the most senior boardroom level there are more women
but PwC said progress was slow and as most businesses tended to assume that
those in the middle ranks would feed upwards the numbers were shrinking at a
worrying rate.
PwC suggested that one of the reasons for this change was the
growing cost of childcare – it has risen 27% in the last five years according to
the Daycare Trust. There is also
evidence that more women are going into business for themselves, PwC said.
Links
Grant Thornton International
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Daycare Trust
April, 2007 |
