A New Year wish for women

It's time to make a wish as we wave goodbye to 2019. My wish for 2020 is that it will be a better year for women working in the corporate sector and other parts of the economy. They deserve more recognition for their contribution to a society still dominated by men.

The latest global statistics don't look promising for women in leadership roles, particularly in Asia. "Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective", released earlier this month by Deloitte Global, highlights the slow progress made toward real gender diversity.

The findings, based on an analysis of data covering over 8,600 companies in 49 countries, underscore a now-familiar challenge that women are largely under-represented on corporate boards and progress to change this trend remains slow.

Globally, women hold just 16.9% of board seats, a mere 1.9% increase from the report's last edition in 2017. Women hold only 4.4% of CEO positions worldwide, and while CFO positions are nearly three times more diverse, women still hold just 12.7% of these positions globally.

Asia, in particular, trails the global figures although gender diversity in general is improving across the region. Women account for only 9.3% of board seats in Asia, up 1.5% from 2017, but well behind the global figure of 16.9%. Women occupy 4.2% of board chair positions in Asia, up 1.6% from 2017, but below the 5.3% figure globally.

These statistics, says the global consultancy, illustrate an urgent need for organisations to take action to drive more positive and dramatic change.

"Barriers to gender diversity in the boardroom, and more broadly throughout the workplace, persist," says Dan Konigsburg, senior managing director of Deloitte's Global Centre for Corporate Governance. "Outdated workplace cultures, unconscious bias, and lack of sponsorship are just a few of the factors that prevent many women from reaching senior leadership roles."

There are some encouraging signs, though, that businesses in Asia value the benefits of having women on their boards. The average tenure of women as board members in Asia is 5.6 years, slightly above the global average of 5.5 years. Women holding board chairs in Asia average a tenure of 8 years, versus 5.4 years globally.

The average age of women serving as board members and chairs in Asia was 57.0 and 57.1 respectively, on par with the global average of 57.0 for board members and below the global mean of 59.4 for chairs.

Increasing diversity is the right thing to do, and not just for the sake of improving corporate images. In many studies, increased diversity has been shown to lead to better business outcomes with smarter decision-making and innovations. Having the best male and female representatives on a board enhances the quality of debates and provides insightful as well as varied opinions on topics that matter to businesses.

It is critical that all of society take tangible and meaningful actions now, or gender parity will remain an elusive goal rather than an enabler of inclusive economic growth.