Bangkok--2 Mar--124 communication
A Higher Proportion of Women to Men See Themselves as Managers and Earning above the Median Income
MasterCard Worldwide today released the findings of its annual MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement. Thailand saw its Index score rise to 91.5 from 78.4 in 2008, ranking 2nd in the Asia/Pacific. This is the fifth year that MasterCard has released this Index.
The increase of 13 points in Thailand’s Index score was a result of a higher proportion of women to men feeling they are in managerial positions and earning above median income, compared to last year. The number of women per 100 men considering themselves in managerial positions rose from 59 in 2008 to 70 in 2009, while the number of women per 100 men considering themselves to be earning above median income also rose from 43 in 2008 to 83 in 2009.
The ratio of female to male participation in the labor force and with regards to the tertiary education enrolment rate also showed marginal increases. The ratio of female to male participation in the labor force went up from 87 women per 100 men to 88 women per 100 men. The tertiary education enrolment rate of women relative to men went up from 124 women per 100 men to 125 women per 100 men.
Thailand also had the highest percentage of women in Asia/Pacific who saw themselves as making the financial decisions for the household, with 77.8% of the women surveyed saying so.
The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement measures the socioeconomic level of women in relation to men using four key indicators:
- Two of the indicators are based on source data from national statistics bureaus and show the ratio of female to male participation in the labor force and tertiary education.
- Two of the indicators are based on survey data and measure female and male respondent rerceptions of whether they hold managerial positions and earn above median income. These subjective factors are a gauge of how positively or negatively respondents feel about their place in the workforce.
The resulting Index figure calculated from these indicators shows how close or how far women in each market are achieving socioeconomic parity with men. A score under 100 indicates gender inequality in favor of males while a score above 100 indicates inequality in favor of females. A score of 100 indicates equality between the sexes. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance.
The pan-regional Index score across 14 Asia/Pacific markets[1] edged up slightly from 71.6 in 2008 to 72.4 in 2009. In Asia/Pacific, Australia had the highest Index score (96.1), followed by Thailand and New Zealand (90.5). India had the lowest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement score (37.8), followed by South Korea (45.2) and Japan (54.5)
Additional highlights from the Index include:
In the Asia/Pacific:
- Australia saw the greatest increase in its Index score, followed by Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore and China. The rest of the markets showed decreases in their scores
- The Index score for the Philippines saw the biggest drop, followed by Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
- Labor force participation rates and tertiary education enrollment rates continued to climb, showing marginal increases compared to 2008.
- In terms of tertiary education enrollment rates, markets recording the highest scores were New Zealand (154 women per 100 men), Australia (132) and Malaysia (131).
- In terms of labor force participation, the proportion of women to men ,was the highest in Vietnam (94 women per 100 men), New Zealand (89) and Thailand (88).
- 95.7% of the women who saw themselves as making the financial decisions in their household are working, with 61.2% of them considering themselves in managerial positions. A majority of these women (37.1%) were aged 31-45 years old.
- Thai women are marginally more optimistic about their outlook of the next six months (20.5) compared to six months ago (20.3).
- Thai women are more optimistic in terms of their outlook towards Quality of Life (10.4) than they were six months ago (7.9), the Stock Market (17.6 vs. 8.5 six months ago) and the Economy (16.2 vs. 13.3).
- They are however less optimistic about Regular Income (43.2) compared to six months ago (51.8) and Employment (15.1 vs. 20.2 six months ago).
Eileen Wee, vice president and country manager, Thailand, MasterCard Worldwide, said, “It is impressive to see that Thailand’s index score has been increasing since 2007 (77.2 in 2007, 78.4 in 2008 and 91.5 in 2009). This evidently reflects that Thai women are feeling more empowered and confident about their status in the workplace.”
[1] Markets surveyed include Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea Malaysia, New Zealand , Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan. Thailand and Vietnam.
Asia/Pacific
Rank Market 2009 2008 2007 2006
1 Australia 96.1 79.1 83.9 96.1
2 Thailand 91.5 78.4 77.2 79.6
3 New Zealand 90.5 80.0 96.5 90.1
4 Singapore 88.3 78.1 78.7 86.6
5 China 82.3 73.3 81.5 88.3
6 Hong Kong 76.5 81.7 80.8 77.4
7 Philippines 70.4 88.0 89.2 92.8
8 Malaysia 69.9 76.0 71.3 92.9
9 Vietnam 65.9 69.2 68.6 67.4
10 Indonesia 62.7 66.4 61.0 69.2
11 Taiwan 60.3 76.0 86.8 77.2
12 Japan 54.5 63.4 60.7 59.8
13 South Korea 45.2 57.7 61.6 61.4
14 India 37.8 39.4 39.1 N/A
Average Asia/Pacific 72.4 71.6 73.8 79.0
About MasterCard Worldwide
MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes approximately 21 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial-institution customers and merchants. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network and through its family of brands, including MasterCard?, Maestro? and Cirrus?, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information go to www.mastercard.com.
Media contacts
Eileen Wee, [email protected], 0 2670 4088
Elizabeth Wongwasin, [email protected], 0 2662 2266 ext 216