Asia Pacific – Men hold at least 80% of top jobs in Asia

By memberservices@staffingindustry.com (Danny Romero)

Men occupy at least 80% of the top jobs in Asia as well as the bulk of line manager roles, according to annual gender diversity research from international recruitment firm Hays.

The research was based on a survey of women and men working in more than 30 industry sectors across China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Hays stated that the research showed both women and men link greater gender diversity to business success but female leadership remains very low in Asia. Hong Kong has the highest number of men holding the top job at 89% and Malaysia the highest percentage of female leaders at 24%.

“Each year, Hays carries out research on gender diversity in all the countries where we support businesses,” Simon Lance, Managing Director of Hays Greater China, said. “To better serve the thousands of employers and candidates we work with across Asia, we are producing this new report to focus exclusively on what is happening in our region.”

“Last year, men held 79% of the top jobs and 67% of line manager roles so there is no real improvement in female representation in leadership roles,” Lance said. “However, we have been buoyed by the similarities of views when it comes to recognising that greater gender diversity delivers positives for business.”

The research showed that the largest proportion of respondents of both genders support more sharing of family responsibilities to help address equality in the workplace, describe access to flexible work options as important to them, concede women face barriers to career success due to gender, and agree their organisation has some gender diversity issues to address.

“Tackling gender bias around promotion, recruitment and accommodating life choices such as parenting and elder care requires focus and can be confronting to any organisation,” Lance said. “However, with an aging population and workforce in Asia, the companies that get this right will ensure they have the largest pool of talent to draw upon as candidates get harder to find and thus, will gain a competitive advantage that is truly worth the commitment in getting this done right.”

By country, all Hong Kong survey respondents say greater gender diversity has a positive impact on business. Japan has the largest proportion of respondents with fewer than 6% of respondents saying greater gender diversity has no positive business impact. In Singapore less than 5% of respondents share that view while in China, it was less than 3% and Malaysia it was 1%.

Both male and female respondents in China, Malaysia and Singapore view company culture is the most useful benefit of greater gender diversity. In Japan, men and women see the recruitment of the best talent as the key benefit. In Hong Kong both genders agree greater gender diversity boosts a company’s reputation.

Source:: Asia Pacific – Men hold at least 80% of top jobs in Asia