Globally, women hold 21% of senior management positions in companies and this number has not significantly changed in the last ten years. That is according to the Women in Senior Management: still not enough study by the business-consulting firm Grant Thornton. Most women in senior management are in Russia (46%), Botswana, the Philippines and Thailand (39%), least female top managers are in India (14%), Germany (13%) and Japan (5%).
Women in the position of CEOs work in 9% of comapnies. Most female CEOs are in Australia (30%), Thailand (29%) and Italy (24%), least in Botswana, Japan and Brazil (3%). Most women work as Human resources Directors (21%), Finance Directors (13%) and Operational Directors (12%).
It turned out that there is no direct correlation between the number of women in senior management positions and their economic activity or the level of openness of the particular countries to flexible working arrangements. For example, 85% of companies in the Scandinavian countries offer flexible working arrangements, there are, however, only 23% of women in senior management.
The study notes that the number of women in senior management is rising slightly in Europe and falls in the developing countries. This may be related to the availability of flexible working arrangements. However, the study concludes that some form of support for women should be implemented as their representation among top managers grows very slowly.
Mandatory quotas may soon become obligatory in Europe. European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding plans to submit a proposed directive on introducing mandatory quotas for female representation in top company management next month. According to the proposal, companies quoted on European stock exchanges should sign up for a voluntary commitment to increase the number of women on their board of directors to 30 % by the year 2015 and 40 % by 2020. If the proposal is approved, all 27 EU Member States will have to introduce the mandatory quotas in their national legislation by 1.1.2020 at the latest.
The entire study can be read on and downloaded from the Grant Thornton website here.
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