Ph Ranks 1st in Pay, Female Representation in Gender Diversity Benchmark for Asia Report

The Philippines ranks first overall in gender diversity from among 10 Asian countries, from the smallest gap in pay between women and men, to the highest female representation in the workforce and in senior leadership roles. This is based on the recent Gender Diversity Benchmark for Asia (GDBA) report by Community Business, a Hong Kong-based non-profit organization which also leads the Diversity & Inclusion Asia Network. The results were presented in the Philippines on March 2, in a forum organized by Thomson Reuters, which co-funded the report.

The GDBA, developed through a partnership between Community Business and global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, analyzes data from close to 4.8 million employees in more than 3,600 companies from the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia.

Countries were ranked across the key metrics of women representation in the total workforce, women representation at senior level, and the pay gap, with the Philippines emerging with the best diversity performance by averaging the rankings of the three indicators. This is the first time the Philippines was covered by the GDBA, now on its fifth edition.

The Gender Pay Gap

Women are paid less than men by at least 10% across the 10 markets surveyed, which translates to women being paid at 90 cents or less, for every dollar that a man earns. The Philippines has the lowest pay gap at 10.2%, followed by Indonesia at 17.9%. Singapore lags behind at 24.8% and Japan has the largest pay gap at 26.8% in terms of total compensation.

The report says that disparity in the pay gap may be attributed to women’s representation across job levels, with more women at the junior level and underrepresented at senior level.

Women Representation in the Total Workforce

In terms of women representation in the total workforce, Malaysia ranked first at 58.1%, followed closely by the Philippines at 56.0%. The 2019 GDBA notes that both markets are characterized by good access to education for women, the presence of parenting support policies, and progressive initiatives to advance gender diversity.

These scores are in stark contrast to the lowest-ranked countries Indonesia and South Korea (both at 39.6%), Japan (33.8%), which all report pervasive gender-based discrimination, and India (20.8%), where women are faced with threats to safety in both domestic and public spheres, restricting their participation in education and the workplace.

Women Representation in Senior Leadership

The Philippines leads the region in the representation of women in senior leadership roles at 33%, followed by Malaysia (26.7%) and Hong Kong (24.7%).

The GDBA also looked at “leaking pipeline,” or the rate of decline of women participation from one level to another. Malaysia scored the lowest leakage from junior to mid-level at 4.9%, while the Philippines scored the lowest leakage from mid-level to senior level at 2.2%. These figures are in contrast to the leaking pipeline in Japan—48.8% from junior to mid-level and 40.1% from mid-level to senior level.

The leakage may be attributed to cultural biases that hinder women’s career advancement, such as playing a bigger role in domestic duties, which coincides with a later phase in life and the opportunity to take on more senior roles at the workplace, GDBA posits.

Across all markets, women are underrepresented in leadership roles such as C-suite executives and country managers. Moreover, in India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, women account for none of the leadership roles in at least half of the companies surveyed.

A Closer Look at the Philippines

While the Philippines continues to rank highly across the three metrics considered by the study (representation in the total workforce, representation at the senior level, pay gap), gender imbalance persists in terms of organizational functions. Women are heavily represented in Human Resources (71.0%) and Finance (69.0%) but outnumbered in IT (28.0%).

The representation of women in the workforce also declines with age. Women in the Philippines make up more than half of the total workforce from ages 20 to 39, and the percentages steadily decline from age 40 onwards. According to the report, this may be attributed to care for the elderly, which is integral to Filipino culture.

“The results of the 2019 GDBA are instructive for companies in the Philippines, even as the country continues to rank high on gender equality metrics,” explains Tes Veloso, Manila Site Officer and Senior Director, Vendor Strategy and Relationship Management of Thomson Reuters.

“The data enables us to identify areas of excellence and improvement. This will lead to better engagement of stakeholders on gender diversity and formulation of policies and programs to address identified gaps. We also gain a better understanding of the wider social and cultural forces that impact the recruitment and retention of women in the workplace.”

The results of the 2019 GDBA indicate consistent findings for the Philippines in similar reports. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2020 shows that the Philippines remains to be the highest ranked Asian country in terms of gender equality, despite falling eight notches in the global rankings (16th). The WEF report indicates that the Philippines has closed the gap in economic participation and opportunity, with more women in senior leadership roles, as well as in professional and technical professions. The Philippines has also closed gaps in educational attainment.