by Michael Gold, Managing Editor, The Economist Intelligence Unit
As LGBT Pride festivals moved online last year, in a blow to visibility the world over, the one place that managed a boisterous in-person parade, Taiwan, also illustrates the tension that Asia is experiencing as it tentatively embraces LGBT rights, including in the business world. While Taiwan’s legal and social acceptance of LGBT people is highest in the region, its corporate sphere lags behind its larger neighbours. This is one of the findings of Pride and Prejudice: The next chapter of progress, a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit that explores the evolving environment for LGBT rights in Asian companies and society.
The report is based on a randomised survey of 359 full-time employees at firms across seven Asian economies: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. It finds that many Asian companies retain implicit ‘don’t-ask-don’t-tell’ cultures, compelling LGBT staff to conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity at work. In the Survey, 40% of respondents said that being openly LGBT would hinder their career prospects, compared with only 11% who said it would be an advantage. This state of affairs is not likely to change soon: looking ahead three years, 57% of respondents believe it will remain as difficult as it is today, or be even more challenging, for LGBT workers to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to colleagues.
Interestingly, China and India, where individual LGBT rights remain scant, lead on several metrics of corporate LGBT D&I, including most likely to:
- say their company has made ‘substantial progress’ in LGBT diversity and inclusion over the last three years;
- feel ‘very comfortable’ joining an LGBT support or allies’ network at work or joining a pro-LGBT rally or march outside work;
- say they have observed open debate about how to make their company more LGBT-inclusive;
- agree that enacting LGBT-friendly workplace policies and practices presents a business opportunity; and
- agree that the business world has a fundamental imperative to drive change around LGBT diversity and inclusion.
Respondents from China and India are also most likely to say their firm reflects the interests of its staff in areas of broad social concern, including LGBT rights—70% and 85% of respondents in China and India, respectively, believe this, compared with a cross-survey average of only 51%. This suggests that firms in these two national giants are ahead of the cultural curve on this issue. Tentative signs of this are already visible as companies in both economies have openly made public gestures supporting the LGBT community.
What can be done to move the needle elsewhere? Asia seems to be bucking the pattern seen in Western countries, where social strides largely presaged corporate progress. Taiwan is a case in point: its middling performance on various corporate D&I factors in the Survey flies in the face of its comparatively strong legal and social protections for the LGBT community.
Yet this also suggests companies in China and India can potentially provide a template for how firms can take a positive stand on LGBT issues, even amid otherwise restrictive environments. First, seek to understand what motivates employees, especially younger ones for whom LGBT rights are likely a higher priority than their elders. Second, look to create a corporate culture that mirrors these values. This may not automatically result in a friendlier climate for LGBT people—in the Survey, respondents from Indonesia rate their firms high at reflecting the values of their staff but low on LGBT acceptance, which may result from the country’s conservative Muslim heritage. But it is likely to at least spur a rethink of what companies stand for, beyond serving as pure profit-making enterprises divorced from social concerns.
Asian companies have a long way to go in terms of LGBT D&I, both internally and externally. Yet the fact that companies in Asia’s two largest economies appear to be at the forefront of change offers reason for hope. Their momentum must be celebrated, supported and exported to the rest of the region as a model for improvement in a space that desperately needs it.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
