Cracking, but not breaking

The elusive glass ceiling for female C-suite aspirants appears to be cracking, based on the latest Census on Women in Executive Leadership Teams in Philippine Publicly Listed Companies – a study that the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (PBCWE) conducted last year on the current landscape of women in leadership roles, highlighting both progress and areas needing further improvement.

Based on key findings of the study that were presented on Tuesday, it appears that the glass ceiling is cracking, but according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Javey Francisco, breaking that glass ceiling may still take at least another “two decades to achieve” and would require publicly-listed companies to “lead by example” and “walk the talk.”

The 2023 PBCWE study showed that the number of women in leadership roles has significantly increased from 2020 to 2022, with women accounting for 40 percent of leadership roles. However, the study also revealed that many women continue to occupy 47 percent of functional or support roles, with female representation on boards of directors reaching 21 percent in 2022.

Females as chief executive officers (CEOs) remain underrepresented at just 13 percent, with most of them in the services sector and only a few in the industrial and property sectors.

A large majority of men, or 66 percent, still hold seven out of 10 line roles compared to female executives.

The census also indicated that gender equality in the boards of directors of Philippine publicly-listed companies remains significantly unbalanced, with 39 percent having only male members and 14 percent having no female representation at all on their boards.

Perhaps as a sort of consolation, in Australia, according to Australian Embassy Acting Counsellor Simon Reid, who gave the opening remarks at the launch of the study, Australian female CEOs likewise account for just 19.4 percent – indicating that our neighbor from down under, similar to us, has “a long way to go” in improving female representation in the C-Suite and reducing the gender pay gap.

Thus, the study showed that despite some progress, only two percent of large firms and none of the small and medium-sized firms have set specific gender diversity targets. This contrasts with publicly-listed companies that have broad diversity policies, which still need to be complemented by concrete targets in order to be measured and ultimately achieved.

The PBCWE, which was launched in March 2017 through an initiative of the Australian government called Investing in Women, partnered with the Philippine Women’s Economic Network (PhilWEN) to create a business coalition to pursue gender equality in the workplace and women’s economic empowerment nationwide.

The PBCWE is comprised of industry-leading businesses that are large employers committed to taking appropriate steps to improve gender equality in their own workplaces and to influence other businesses – both in their supply chains and among other large businesses – to become better employers of women.

The PBCWE census, perhaps, indicates just how difficult and how much longer Filipino female executives will have to wait and work harder to climb the C-Suite ladder, in a future where the World Bank recently aired its own concern about sustaining job creation.

The World Bank Group recently launched a High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs, a new initiative that will identify actionable policies and programs to address the looming jobs crisis in the Global South.

Over the next 10 years, according to the World Bank, an unprecedented 1.2 billion young people in the Global South will reach working age, but the job market is only expected to create 420 million jobs – leaving nearly 800 million without a clear path to prosperity.

Though some young people will be in further education, their eventual entry into the labor market will add to this challenge.

The High-Level Advisory Council is a dedicated initiative by the World Bank Group to transform this challenge into an opportunity to drive future prosperity. It will focus on youth and female employment opportunities.

The global labor force participation rate for women is just over 50 percent – much lower in some regions – compared to 80 percent for men.

The Council will bring together leading experts across government, business, civil society, and academia to offer thought leadership and actionable strategies for creating large-scale employment opportunities.

The strategies developed will be examined within the World Bank Group, with a view to piloting them with countries in real-world applications. Those exhibiting the right level of success will be scaled over the coming years to effectively address the jobs challenge.

The Council will be led and co-chaired by recent Philippine visitor Tharman Shanmugaratnam, president of Singapore and former deputy prime minister and coordinating minister for economic and social policies, and Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile and head of government for two terms (2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 2018).

“Creating jobs is the surest way to combat poverty and grow prosperity,” said World Bank Group president Ajay Banga. “A job is the most meaningful yardstick of success for any individual: with a job comes dignity, pride and the ability to provide for yourself and your family. We are launching the Council to set our development strategy on a foundation of creating employment opportunities in all corners of the globe.”

“Good jobs are at the core of aspirations everywhere, but also a growing challenge in the face of rapidly advancing technologies, geo-economic uncertainty, and climate threats,” said Shanmugaratnam. “New strategies are needed to achieve sustained job and income growth among developing world populations, and the benefits this will bring for the global economy too.”

“The challenge is unprecedented in modern history: we must provide meaningful job opportunities for hundreds of millions of young people and women in the Global South,” said Bachelet. “This High-Level Advisory Council will seek to identify policies that are both effective and can be implemented on the ground, ensuring that economic growth and social justice go hand in hand. Let’s help prepare young people and women for the challenges of today and the future. Our goal is for all of them to have an opportunity to contribute to and benefit from a more inclusive global economy.”

The Council will meet regularly and work directly with Banga and World Bank Group senior leadership. The members of the Council will be announced in the near future. The Council aims to hold its first meeting during the 2024 World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings in October.