Four in ten businesses worldwide have no women in senior management

# no change over the last three years
# less than a quarter (22%) of senior positions are occupied by women
# the Philippines is the only country where women have parity to men in senior management roles.

The latest findings from the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), released today to coincide with International Women’s Day, reveal that 38% of businesses do not have any women in senior management roles, a figure which has remained unchanged since 2004. The survey, which covers the opinions of 7,200 privately held businesses in 32 countries, represents 81% of global GDP.

Businesses with women in senior management
97% of businesses in the Philippines1 have women in senior management positions, the highest in the survey, in contrast to the lowest Japan, with only 25%. Four out of the five countries with the lowest figures are in Europe: the Netherlands (27%), Luxembourg (37%), Germany (41%) and Italy (42%).

In total, over half of all European businesses surveyed (52%) have women participating in senior management, while in NAFTA countries 68% of businesses have females in senior roles. Compared with three years ago European businesses have 4% more women in senior management, whereas NAFTA countries have 6% more.

Since 2004 the global figure for businesses with ‘no women’ in senior management positions has remained unchanged at 38%. Countries with businesses reporting a fall in businesses with female senior managers, include Mexico (a drop of 24%), Russia (15%), Poland (9%), Italy (6%), New Zealand (6%) and the US (6%). Countries which report increased participation of women in senior levels are: Spain (16%), India (14%), Taiwan and the Philippines (13%) and Hong Kong and Sweden (both 9%).

See full Press Release.