Wanted: women business leaders in the Asia-Pacific, and companies and governments willing to support them

Women’s representation in high-ranking positions in business and politics is a global issue, but an even more pressing one in Asia-Pacific. Across the region, only one in five people in leading roles is a woman. 

This waste of women’s talent comes at an economic cost. Many economies in the region are ageing and skills shortages are on the rise: making more of women’s potential can help meet such challenges. Businesses gain a great deal from supporting women. McKinsey’s 2018 report “The Power of Parity” found that companies in the top quarter for gender diversity on their executive teams are 21 per cent more likely to experience above-average profitability. 

Even in developed economies in the Asia-Pacific, few women are getting to the top in business – in Japan, there are no female CEOs in the top 100 public companies. In Australia and Singapore, the share of women CEOs in 2016 was only 6 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. The Philippines, a traditionally matriarchal society whose government has been proactive in tackling gender inequality, does better in senior positions overall, but only 3 per cent of CEOs and 15 per cent of board members are women.