Bangkok--14 Mar--Grant Thornton
Women hold well over a third of senior management roles (39%) in Thailand according to the latestresearch from Grant Thornton. Globally, businesses in Europe are making the most progress in this area,but peers in emerging markets are falling away. This leaves the global average at 21%, barely higher thanthe 2004 level.
In 2011, Thailand led the global rankings with 45% of senior management roles held by women.
Figures from this year’s Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) indicate that it has fallen
behind Russia (46%), but remains in second place, level with the Philippines and Botswana (both 39%).
Around the world, the figures in emerging markets are generally down: women hold 22% seniormanagement positions in Latin America, down from 28% in 2009. Similar falls have been recorded in theAsia Pacific economies (25% in 2009 down to 19% in 2012), South East Asia (36% in 2009 down to 32%
in 2012) and the BRIC economies (30% in 2009 down to 26% in 2012).
Despite rising unemployment, the proportion of women in senior management in Europe has continuedto rise steadily from 17% in 2004 to 20% in 2009 to 24% in 2012, catching up with peers in emergingmarkets.
April Mackenzie, global head - governance and public policy at Grant Thornton International, said:
“Across Europe, getting more women into senior management positions has been high on the political
agenda for quite some time. Governments have been vocal about addressing the imbalance and as a resultbusinesses have been under real scrutiny. This encouraging rise in senior women shows the effect thisattention is starting to have.”
“The steady drop-off we are seeing in the emerging markets is a real concern though. The worry is that wemay be reaching the point where women are underrepresented in senior management the world over.”There are a myriad of cultural, economic and social barriers which prevent women from reaching the topjobs. The drop off in emerging markets could be a sign that as Thailand and other emerging marketsbecome richer, families become less financially constrained, and mothers therefore choose to pursuea higher quality of life by opening their own micro businesses or leaving the workforce altogether.
Another possible explanation is the rapid urbanisation that has gone hand-in-hand with rapid economicgrowth, particularly in Asia. Since 1978, China has experienced the largest internal migration in humanhistory, with nearly 160m people moving from the countryside into cities.1 The proportion of peopleliving in urban areas passed 50% in 2011, and is projected to hit 55% by 2020.2 This is putting a hugestrain on traditional family models. At 31%, Thailand has relatively low levels of urbanisation and datasuggests Bangkok has stopped growing, but the 10 largest cities outside of Bangkok grew by 17% in theperiod 2007-09.3
April Mackenzie explained: “The movement into cities has begun to break down traditional models ofextended families. The in-built childcare infrastructure which allowed children to be raised by
grandparents, enabled women to work full-time. This is being replaced by ‘Western-style’ nuclear familieswhich rely on one parent looking after the children or the prospect of expensive childcare.”
“Urbanisation presents more opportunities for more people, including women, in many different ways.
But the challenges it places on the family model appear to be having a disproportionately large effect onthe ability of women to break the glass ceiling and occupy senior management roles.”
“Governments and business leaders in emerging markets need to start working now to address thisdecline. The last thing we want to see is a race to mediocrity where the proportion of women in seniorroles in these countries bottoms out and stagnates for a number of years. Or indeed that these highgrowth economies lose talent because women in the burgeoning rising middle classes opt out of theworkforce altogether.”
“There needs to be a public discussion now about the policies and practices that will enable and
encourage women to continue to progress in the workplace.”