Malaysia Better Than Singapore In Terms Of Representation Of Women At Different Levels In The Workplace

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia showed a much stronger performance in terms of the representation of women at different levels in the workplace while Singapore, an important international hub in Asia, ranks fourth among six Asian markets, according to the Gender Diversity Benchmark for Asia 2014 (GDBA 2014). The lead sponsor of the report is Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as part of its efforts to promote diversity and inclusion. The study benchmarks Asia's gender diversity in over 30 multinational companies across six markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, India and Japan. It was conducted by Community Business, a leading not-for-profit organisation specialising in corporate responsibility and a thought leader on diversity and inclusion in Asia. Community Business chief executive officer, Fern Ngai, said overall, the organisation was pleased to see some signs of real progress in this latest study. "Of course, much more needs to be done and performance varies across the region. Women continue to be under-represented at senior levels in organisations and we need to continue to address this," she said. Ngai commended Malaysia on its strong and improved performance. "The mandatory measures introduced by the Malaysian Government have been a key driver. The country performs well on all data points despite the less favourable environment for women's advancement in Malaysia. "These findings show that the existence of policies and programmes does not necessarily correlate to strong performance, and bringing about change requires multifaceted efforts from different sectors and on different aspects," she said. Bernhard Steiner, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific chief risk officer, said integrating diversity initiatives into business operations was fundamentally important and ensuring that progress was made should be a leadership priority, not just a women's issue. Steiner, Bernhard Steiner, who chairs the company's regional diversity and inclusion council, said in countries like Singapore, women-friendly and pro-family policies were fostering an environment that helps companies build great places to work. "Bank of America Merrill Lynch is proud of the progress made to date within our own organisation and this report further reinforces our sustained commitment to promote gender diversity across the region," he said. Although the companies in Singapore are achieving gender parity at junior levels (58.5 per cent), other markets have caught up quickly, pulling the country down from second place when the survey was last conducted in 2011. Malaysia presents an encouraging picture with a consistent upward trend in performance compared to 2011. When it comes to the average representation of women in the total workforce (58.1 per cent), at junior levels (63.0 per cent) and middle levels (50.3 per cent), the companies in Malaysia are achieving or exceeding gender parity. Like Singapore, the biggest leak in Malaysia's pipeline takes place between middle and senior levels with an average 32.4 per centt drop. When it comes to the average representation of women at senior levels, performance continues to be relatively strong at 34 per cent. Malaysia ranks second at this level, just behind China only, and has the highest percentage of companies (35.3 per cent) attaining or surpassing gender parity. --BERNAMA