WOMEN IN BUSINESS

“The percentage of businesses with women in senior position roles being relatively high is a positive indication of our women’s active participation in the nation’s economic activities.”

“Some Managerial job concentration by gender is reflected with women managers in the country likely dominating positions such as accountancy, human resources, public affairs, communications, advertising, healthcare and the law. This is normal based on the nature of jobs and some slight preference of the employees as well as the employers. Similar concentration patterns also apply to other Asian countries,” Dato’ N K Jasani, Managing Partner of Shamsir Jasani Grant Thornton commented.

Pertinently, countries in Asia tend to have a higher proportion of business with women participating in senior management, led by the Philippines at 97 per cent, the major exception to this is Japan at 25 per cent.

Malaysia is only third after Philippines and Mainland China. Philippines is the only country where women have parity to men in senior management roles.

While there has been a slight increase in the number of women entering managerial positions from 19 per cent in 2004 to 22 per cent this year, the figure is still less than a quarter on a global average. In the case of Malaysia, the survey shows that 23 per cent of the Managerial positions are occupied by women i.e. one percent more than the global average.

In this respect we at Grant Thornton Malaysia are happy to note that 37 per cent of our Managerial positions are held by women and they contribute significantly to our operations.

“The participation of women in senior business management has been rising steadily over the last three years. It is particularly encouraging to see some of the Asian countries economies leading the way.