Gender equality in the workplace still has a long way to go. According to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report recently, the annual pay for women only now equals the amount men were earning 10 years ago. Employee sentiment in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia does little to encourage the prospect of change in the coming years according to the latest Randstad Workmonitor research.
The report examined employee’s sentiment around the gender gap and measured the preference employees had for a direct manager to be male. Globally, 65% of all respondents stated they preferred a male boss.
Who's the boss
In Southeast Asia, an even higher percentage of employees prefer working for a male boss. Respondents in Singapore (76%), Hong Kong (78%) and Malaysia (73%) surpassed the global average by a good margin, the highest globally after Japan (80%) and Greece (80%).
Women in the region also declared a strong preference for male direct bosses, with women in Singapore (74%), Hong Kong (74%) and Malaysia (63%) beating the much lower global average of 58%.
Michael Smith, Managing Director, Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, expressed his concern over the results, “The results show a worrying trend in this region with such strong preferences for having male bosses in the workplace -despite open discussions around the issue of gender equality going on around the world.”
Despite numerous research reports highlighting the continuous pay gap between genders, 79% of employees globally felt that men and women who are in similar roles were rewarded equally. This perception was equally reflected in the region - with respondents in Singapore (81%), Hong Kong (81%) and Malaysia (83%) echoing similar sentiments.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
