Mind the gaps-Perceptions of gender equality in corporate Southeast Asia

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Mind the gaps

Perceptions of gender equality in corporate Southeast Asia

A report from The Economist Intelligence Unit

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016

Mind the gaps Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia

Preface

Mind the gaps: Perceptions of gender equality

in Southeast Asia is an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, sponsored by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Singapore Branch (“HSBC”). The findings and views expressed here are those of The EIU alone. Georgia McCafferty was the author of the report and Laurel West was the editor. We would like to thank all survey respondents for their time and insights.

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016


IntroductIon

Although significant advancements have been made in improving gender equality in the workplace in Southeast Asia, a number of challenges remain if companies–and countries–want to unlock the substantial economic benefits that can be had from employing and promoting more women in the workforce. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2015 ranks 145 countries on women’s access to resources and opportunities and highlights the yawning fissures present in most Southeast Asian countries, apart from the Philippines. Singapore does relatively well, coming in at 54 on the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index, but Indonesia languishes at 92 and Malaysia at 111, just above Liberia (112) and Burkina Faso (114). The more defined WEF Gender Gap Index for economic participation and opportunity awards Singapore an even better ranking (9), but Malaysia (95) and Indonesia (114) still rank as economic gender equality laggards.

The aim of this report, which is written by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Singapore Branch (“HSBC”), is to examine perceptions of this gender diversity gap among working women in Southeast Asia, at both senior and mid-levels of management. The report looks at women’s awareness of gender diversity in their own organisations, asks the ways these women

believe any gap can be reduced and explores whether mid-level women feel supported by their senior female colleagues.

The findings are based on a survey of 300 female executives conducted by The EIU in December 2015, with 100 respondents each from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Half of these respondents work in middle management positions, 32% in senior management and 18% at a Managing Director/General Manager or C-suite level1.

*NB: Survey percentages in this report may

not add up to 100 due to rounding or respondents

being able to select multiple responses.

1 The respondents come from a wide variety of industries with 16% working in manufacturing, 10% in financial services or IT, 8% in construction and real estate and 7% in professional services. Just under three quarters of these companies are local, and 26% multinationals. Two in five companies are headquartered in Indonesia, 25% in Singapore, 22% in Malaysia, and the rest across the rest of the world. The organisations also range in size, with 31% of women from firms with between 100 to 199 employees, 56% from firms with between 200 and 999 employees and 13% from businesses with 1,000 or more staff.

4 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016


Key fIndIngs

there’s plenty of room for more women at the top

Clearly, women in Southeast Asia are less aware of the problems of gender diversity at senior management than in other parts of the world. Yet the two-thirds or more of respondents who rated things like giving advice and training to women as important to closing the gender diversity gap suggest they are starting to see the need for change. Women in this part of the world may feel less empowered to speak out about the issue, but a slow awakening on the importance of the management gender gap does seem to be taking place.

There is a clear gender imbalance at senior executive level among the Southeast Asian companies surveyed. Women from both senior management and mid-level positions estimate that only around one-third of senior executives in their organisations are women. Singaporean organisations appear to be the most gender-biased, with respondents estimating that just 26% of senior executives in their businesses are women, compared to 32% in Malaysia and 34% in Indonesia (see Chart 1).

Many respondents are unhappy with this lack of equality at the top—49% of mid-level women and 47% of senior executives believe women are underrepresented in senior management at their company. Not surprisingly, Singaporeans feel this gender bias more strongly, with 56% of those respondents saying women are underrepresented, compared to just 44% of women in both Malaysia and Indonesia (see Chart 2).

The level of concern about the top-level gender imbalance among these respondents is far below that shown in places like America, where 78% of women believe having more female leaders in top positions at business and government would have a positive impact on all women’s lives, according to a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center2.

2 Pew Research Center, Women and Leadership: Public Says Women are Equally Qualified, but Barriers Persist, January 2015

34% 32%

26%

Indonesia Malaysia Singapore

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Chart 1: What % of senior execs in your company are women?

5© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016


Women may be deceiving themselves about pay equality

Women think they are not personally subject to pay inequality compared to their male colleagues but do believe other women are, demonstrating either a significant level of luck or ignorance when it comes to the gender pay gap.

Almost half of all senior women estimate their personal pay to be equal to that of their male colleagues at similar levels and an even more surprising 41% believe it is higher. More than two-thirds of mid-level managers also believe their pay to be equal or similar to that of their male counterparts, although only 17% of this group think their salary is higher (see Chart 3).

In comparison, 39% of senior women and 37% of mid-level women say they believe women as a group do get paid less than men for doing the same work.

Although views of the overall gender pay gap are more realistic than respondent’s personal assessments, both contradict empirical evidence. Indonesian women are paid 38% less than men on average across all levels of employment, according to a 2014 Asian Development Bank report3. The average Malaysian gender pay gap is 19% for women in management and 21% for professionals, according to the 2014 National Salary and Wages Report. And in Singapore, women in management or administrative positions are paid 16% less than their male counterparts, according to the Singaporean government’s 2014 Labour Force Report. The views also stand apart from women’s perceptions in many western countries, with the gender pay gap cited as the number one workplace concern for women in the US, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Australia, according to the 2015 Thompson Reuters “Women at Work” poll.4

3 Asian Development Bank, New Evidence on the Gender Wage Gap in Indonesia, September 2014 4 www.womenatworkpoll.com

47% 49%

Senior women Mid-level women

56%

44% 44%

Singapore Malaysia Indonesia

50%

60%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Chart 2: Women are still underrepresented in senior management at my company

Management Country



The difference between the empirical gender pay gap in Southeast Asian countries and the perceived gender pay gap may be due to a lack of knowledge about colleagues’ pay, as well as the larger number of family businesses found in the region. However, the difference in perceptions between women in Southeast Asia and the West may also be a matter of awareness, since the gender pay issue receives more government and media attention in countries such as the US, UK and Australia than places such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

39% 37%


50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Chart 4: Women still get paid less than men for doing the same work

I think my salary is higher

I think that my salary is similar

I think my salary is lower

41%

48%

11%

17%

67%

16%


50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Chart 3: According to your estimation, how does your salary compare to men who perform jobs of similar seniority and responsibility as you in the company?Singaporeans face a large

gender gap, but are less likely to help other women

More than one-third of female executives from Singapore (34%) say there is a diversity gap at their company, while 27% feel there is no gap. Well over half (56%) of Singaporeans believe women are under-represented in senior management compared to 44% for both Indonesia and Malaysia.

Only 54% of Singaporean women feel it is their responsibility to help other women compared to 69% for Malaysia and 74% for Indonesia.

Singaporeans are also more likely to feel that women who help other women will be branded feminist or sexist. Just 38% of Indonesian respondents and 42% of Malaysians feel this way compared to 43% of Singaporeans.



The gender imbalance in terms of numbers may be clear, but the degree to which women believe this is due to inequality in the workplace is not. Equal numbers of senior and mid-level executives (30%) say there is a significant gender diversity gap in their business that favours men over women, but relatively large numbers from each group—43% of senior women and 39% of mid-level women—aren’t sure. More than one-quarter of senior executives and 31% of mid-level women said there was little or no gender diversity gap in their organisation. Similarly, only 27% of mid-level respondents and 16% of senior women felt reduced gender bias would help them be more successful in their careers, a response that ranked far behind other more tangible factors, like receiving advice and training.

But while perceptions of gender inequality in the workplace are not strong, Southeast Asian women still feel gender-based pressures. More than half the respondents from both management groups think women have to do more than men to prove themselves in the workplace, with this belief stronger among mid-management (61%) than senior women (51%) (see Chart 6).

43%

7%

23%

3%

27%

13%14%

39%

24%

7%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

5

4

3

2

1


Chart 5: Thinking of your company, please rate the extent to which your company has a gender diversity gap that favors men over women using a scale of 1 to 5 (1 means that there is no gender diversity gap at all and 5 means that there is a very large gender diversity gap.)

50%

59%58%

Singapore Indonesia Malaysia

50%

60%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Chart 6: Women still have to do more than men to prove themselves in the workplace

Many women are unsure whether their workplace is biased against women



Importantly, the things women believe improve gender diversity may often also help individual executive women be better employees. Respondents across both levels of management rank being valued and rewarded for their work as the most important factor that could help them achieve their professional goals, with more insights into industry and business strategy and working for a company where there is no gender bias a close second (see Chart 8). The importance of feeling valued and rewarded and the emphasis on training may suggest that women in Southeast Asia, like their western counterparts, could often undersell their strengths and abilities.

Women at both levels of management in Southeast Asia agree the most important things a company can do to help close or prevent any gender gap is give women advice and training on specific leadership skills, although mid-level women have stronger feelings on this issue than senior executives (see Chart 7). Women think companies also need to value and recognise women more for their work, as well as demonstrate leadership commitment in both words and action—in words, by having senior management talk about gender diversity to staff, and in action, by promoting more women to leadership roles. The creation of networking events, and internal and external mentoring programmes, are also seen as important.

Quotas for women gain the least support of all possible remedies among respondents. This could reflect the fact that more than 50% of respondents don’t believe women are underrepresented in senior management or it could also reflect the often complicated debate around the effectiveness of diversity quotas. However, although quotas are the least popular method of maintaining gender diversity, more than 50% of women at both levels of management still see them as important, with six in 10 mid-level women in support of board-level quotas.

Leadership training and greater support and recognition for women are important tools to promote gender diversity

Indonesian women feel the biggest sense of responsibility to help others

Although 31% of Indonesians believe there is a gender diversity gap that favours men in their organisation, 36% say there is no gap.

Almost three-quarters (74%) of Indonesians believe it is their responsibility to help other women develop their careers compared to 69% for Malaysia and 54% for Singapore. They also have a stronger belief it’s their responsibility to help close the gender gap, with 73% of Indonesian women agreeing this is the case compared to 65% for Malaysia and 64% for Singapore.

This is also reflected in the two-thirds of Indonesians who believe female executives are best placed to help other women rise up the ranks compared to 50% for Malaysia and 56% for Singapore.



50% 60% 70% 80%

Giving advice to women on speci�c leadership skills

Giving training to women on speci�c leadership skills

Helping women being more recognized / valued for their work within the company

Having senior management talk about their commitment to gender diversity to the staff

Making a �rm commitment to promote women into leadership positions

Giving advice to women regarding the balance between work life and family life

Organizing events / conferences on women and leadership

Communicating internally and educating staff on gender bias and subtle barriers for women that persist in the workplace

Creating networking events for mid-level women to interact with senior management

Offering external mentoring programs for women

Creating formal internal mentoring programs for women

Introducing quotas of women on the board

Introducing quotas for female department heads

69%75%

69%73%

65%71%

63%71%

63%69%

65%68%

59%69%

59%68%

57%69%

57%64%

57%63%

51%61%

56%53%

Senior womenMid-level women

0% 10% 20% 30%

Being more valued / rewarded for the work I am doing within the company

Working for a company where there is no gender bias

Having more strategic and technical insights on my industry / on business strategy

Getting more responsibilities within my team / company

Being trained on the requirements needed for leadership roles

Acquiring more skills through training

Finding a solution to better combine work life and family life

Greater �exibility with schedule

Having a mentor that could guide me in my career

Getting a promotion

Finding a better job opportunity

Access to a strong network

Access to a strong network

20%24%

16%27%

27%11%

14%21%

16%17%

17%16%

15%17%

15%13%

16%10%

12%11%

9%11%

7%11%

11%7%

Senior womenMid-level women

Chart 7: What women believe their companies could do to maintain/improve the gender balance

Chart 8: Which of the following would help achieve your professional goals?



often initiated such programmes, but only 22% of mid-level women agree (see Chart 11). Overall, close to half (46%) of mid-level women said they believe their senior female managers are not doing enough to close the gender diversity gap, and 31% were indifferent.

Women at both levels of management have similar perceptions of the general gender diversity gap in their organisations, but their opinions on many specific issues are more divergent. Only 42% of senior respondents believe women are perceived as bossy when they exert their leadership, compared to 53% of mid-level women. Just over half of senior women believe they still have to do more than men to prove themselves in the workplace, yet 61% of mid-level women feel this way (see Chart 10). They also differ on how children impact career progression. Well over half (55%) of mid-level respondents agree that women who want to have children need to sacrifice their career ambitions, compared to 41% of senior women. Many of these differences are understandable. Mid-level women probably do need to do more to prove themselves than those more senior simply by virtue of their position within the organisation, while the children of women lower down the management ladder are likely to be younger than those of senior women and therefore require more compromise.

An area of divergence unlikely to be down to age or seniority is the difference in the level of professional support less senior women believe they get from those higher up. Although 38% of senior women say they have pushed management for more female board representation, only 24% of mid-level women believe this to be the case. The same is true for formal mentoring programmes for women, where 40% of senior managers say they have

Women at lower levels of management have different perceptions of gender diversity than those higher up

Malaysian women are in the middle, except when it comes to their schedules

Only 25% of Malaysians believe their organisation has a significant gender diversity gap compared to 24% who don’t believe there is a gap. The majority of women (51%) are on the fence.

Only 50% of Malaysians believe women are best placed to understand female executive careers compared to 66% for Indonesia and 56% for Singapore.

The one area where Malay women have a stronger opinion is time — 22% want better flexibility with their schedules, while only 10% of Indonesians and 11% of Singaporeans felt this would help them with their career goals.

Totally agree

Somewhat agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Somewhat disagree

Totally disagree

8%

19%

55%

38%

5%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Chart 9: Senior women in my company are not doing enough



10% 20% 30% 40%

% of senior women who say they do this frequently% of mid-level women who say senior women do this frequently

Pushed senior management to ensure that women are represented on the board

Pushed senior management to ensure that some department heads are women

Created formal internal mentoring programs for women

Organized external mentoring programs for women

Attempted to educate colleagues on gender bias and subtle barriers for women that persist in the workplace

Organized events / conferences on women and leadership

Suggested to women more junior than me that they should ask for a promotion

Suggesting to women more junior than me that they should ask for a pay rise

38%24%

28%30%

40%22%

28%26%

40%25%

32%28%

27%26%

30%26%

40%0% 20% 60% 80%

Women who want to be mothers need to compromise on their career ambitions

Female executives best understand how to develop the careers of female executives

Women are more often perceived as bossy when they exert their leadership compared to men

Women still have to do more than men to prove themselves in the workplace

41%55%

55%59%

42%53%

51%61%

% of senior women who think that% of mid-level women who think that

Chart 10: A gap in perceptions between mid-level and senior women

Chart 11: What senior women claim they do vs what mid-level women think is being done



60% 65% 70% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Giving advice to womenon speci�c leadership skills

Giving training to women on speci�c leadership skills

Helping women being more recognized /valued for their work within the company

Giving advice to women regarding thebalance between work life and family life

Making a �rm commitment to promotewomen into leadership positions

69% 3% 16% 37% 28% 16%

5% 15% 35% 29% 16%

3% 14% 38% 26% 19%

4% 17% 39% 21% 19%

25% 18% 28% 17% 12%

69%

65%

65%

63%

I view this as part of my job and I have done this many times

I have done this many times

I have done this a few times

I have done this once

I have never done this

Chart 12: A wider gap What women believe would help close/improve What senior women say they are doing the gender gap

work-life balance, only 19% said they’d done it many times as part of their job.

The results are more extreme when it comes to advancing fellow women. Although 63% of senior executives believe a company needs to make a commitment to promote women to leadership, only 12% say they have done it often and view it as part of their jobs (see Chart 12). The contrast between what senior women believe is right to do to foster gender diversity and their view of their role requirements shows that policies to reduce the gender diversity gap are not being made a formal part of senior management responsibility.

Interestingly, despite women from both sides of management believing more talk and action is required from senior leaders on gender issues, senior women often see their actions to address gender diversity as something they want to do, rather than a formal component of their job.

More than three-quarters of senior women believe it’s important to give advice and training to women on specific leadership skills. However, only 16% say they view this as part of their job and have done it many times. And while almost two-thirds of senior respondents say they need to help women be more recognised and give advice on maintaining a

Most senior women don’t see gender equality as part of their formal responsibilities



5 McKinsey&Company, Diversity Matters, 2015 6 The Center for Talent Innovation, Innovation, Diversity and Market Growth, 2013 7 IMF, Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity, September 2013

concLusIon

Perceptions of gender diversity among senior businesswomen in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are surprisingly positive. They believe around one-third of senior executives in their businesses are women, they don’t believe they are paid less than their male counterparts, and only one-third of women believe there are large gender diversity gaps. However, the empirical statistics on the significant gender pay gaps in these countries and the lack of strong opinions on levels of gender equality in their companies probably indicate a lack of awareness of the issue among some women. This could be due to less discussion and a lack of government policies addressing gender gap issues in these countries. Or it could be down to the nature of the respondents, 74% of whom work for local companies, many of which may be family-owned and run. It could also reflect the relative immaturity of the Malaysian and Indonesian economies.

Gender diversity may not be top of mind for many of these women, but the survey findings suggest that female mid-level and senior executives in these organisations need to be more aware of the broad problems women face in terms of representation and pay gaps and ways in which they can help. More also needs to be done to educate senior managers — both male and female — about the ways diversity gaps can be changed through leadership and the proven financial benefits greater

gender diversity can bring. A significant body of research—including recent reports from McKinsey & Company5, the Center for Talent Innovation6 and the IMF7—all spell out the improved financial success more gender diverse companies experience in comparison to those less so, as well as the proven, broad macroeconomic benefits gender diversity can have for a nation’s economy.

Adopting some of the factors women executives identify as helpful to achieving their personal professional goals, like more training, support and increased understanding of industry and business strategy, could also help arm them with the tools and confidence they need to better help other women more effectively. It could also begin to address the gap the survey shows presently exists between mid-level women and those at more senior levels of management.

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Mind the gaps-Perceptions of gender equality in corporate Southeast Asia

Leadership & Management

Transcript of Mind the gaps-Perceptions of gender equality in corporate Southeast Asia