Asia Pacific is showing signs of uneven progress toward gender equity according to a new report by Equileap. The research examined almost 1,200 companies on gender equity-specific issues across the region including equal pay, female representation, paid parental leave and anti-sexual harassment policies.
The region’s advanced economies including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore were found to have extreme variations in terms of gender equity. Australia was found to be the best APAC market for gender equity at work with the highest average gender equality score in the region (46% companies to 33% APAC average). Hong Kong ranked near the bottom with a score of 30% whilst Japan was named the least equitable country with a score of 28%.
In terms of gender balance, just 4% of CEO roles and 5% of Board Chairs are filled by women in APAC. Singapore stands out for the highest representation of women at senior level with 14% of CEOs and 26% of CFOs being female. However, this is still a far cry from equitable gender balance at any level with women representing 17% of boards, 13% of executives, 19% of senior management and 35% of the workforce across the region.
The report’s findings also revealed that 91% of companies in APAC do not disclose any information on the gender pay gap. Of the almost 1,200 companies surveyed only three have closed the gender pay gap (Oil Search (Aus), Rio Tinto (Aus) and Hang Seng Bank (HK)) whilst only 4% have a strategy in place to close it. In tandem with this, 57% of companies have not published an anti-sexual harassment policy with less than two in ten HK companies having done so.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
