MANILA (AFP) - Women are now outnumbering men at the top of the corporate ladder in the Philippines and the trend is set to increase over the coming years, the country's labour minister said Monday.
The key was access to education, with one in three of the estimated 12.8 million working women having reached college compared to only one in five of 20.1 million working Filipino males, Labour Secretary Arturo Brion said.
Official figures showed the number of women in supervisory and executive positions rose from 1.86 million in 2002 to 2.257 million last year.
The number of men also rose, but at a slower pace -- from 1.4 million in 2002 to 1.63 last year.
The trend is set to continue: last year 97,000 women joined the executive roll compared to just 16,000 men.
Brion said the ratio of women holding top posts was the world's best.
A Grant Thornton International Business Report from earlier this year showed 97 percent of Philippine businesses have women in senior management roles.
That compares to the global average of 59 percent.