PETALING JAYA: The proportion of women holding senior leadership positions in Malaysia has hit 37%, the highest ever recorded despite the Covid-19 pandemic affecting economies around the world, according to Grant Thornton’s annual Women in Business Report. The Asean region has also performed positively, having improved from 35% last year to 38% this year.
Grant Thornton Malaysia national tax practice leader Seah Siew Yun said: “Seeing the proportion of women leaders in Malaysia rise from 31% last year to 37% this year is encouraging. This figure is also above the global figure of 31%. More importantly, it is also above the crucial 30% threshold, which research shows is the minimum representation needed to change decision-making processes.”
Another encouraging finding is the types of leadership roles women are occupying. Grant Thornton’s research reveals there are higher numbers of women across operational C-suite roles in Malaysia compared with last year, with the proportion of female chief financial officers, up 12pp to 41%, female chief marketing officers, up 14pp to 36% and female chief information officers, up 3pp to 20%.
However, the proportion of women holding CEO positions was down slightly at 10% (-5pp from 2020), and has trended downwards since 2019.
According to the research, Malaysia has the most businesses with female chief marketing officers (36%) in the Asean region. Besides that, the proportion of women in the more traditional senior HR roles has increased slightly at 54% (+2pp from 2020).
Passing the 30% of women in senior roles globally is an important milestone for businesses, but it is not the end goal. Businesses that want to reap the benefits of a better gender balance should not stop there and must continue to take action to enable women to realise their ambitions.
The research has shown that Malaysian businesses are taking positive actions and the top three actions taken to improve the gender balance of their leadership team were creating an inclusive culture (54%), ensuring equal access to developmental work opportunities (48%), and providing mentoring and coaching (47%).
“Recognising the importance of a gender balanced leadership team, more businesses are now walking the talk. It is encouraging to see more businesses placing a priority in creating an inclusive culture in their workplace. The research has shown that the number of businesses taking this initiative has increased the highest, from 17% of businesses last year to 54% of businesses this year,” Seah commented.
In terms of ensuring employee engagement and inclusion, more than half of Malaysian businesses (56%) have an environment where employees can “speak up” with ideas, issues and questions. They are also promoting work/life/balance and/or flexibility for employees (54%) and instilling new working practices to better engage all employees (50%).
While the number of women in leadership roles has grown, questions remain over the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women, particularly working mothers. The report reveals that over half (56%) of respondents in Malaysia agree that in their organisations, new working practices as a result of Covid-19 will benefit women’s career trajectories in the long-term.
“Breaking the 30% barrier certainly does represent progress – having grown from 23% 14 years ago when we first started tracking this – but these gains can easily be lost. Reassuringly, 85% of businesses in Malaysia say they are taking action to ensure the engagement and inclusion of their employees against the negative backdrop of the pandemic.
“Now more than ever, businesses need to stay focused to enable women to progress to leadership positions, so that women move forward rather than back as a result of the global pandemic.”
The proportion of women leaders in Malaysia at 37% this year is above the global figure of 31%. Picture for representational purposes only. – REUTERSPIX
Source: The Sun Daily
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