According to the latest Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Philippines sees the largest increase in hiring women in leadership roles among countries in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region since 2015. The country also ranks fourth worldwide in women’s representation in leadership positions.

According to the report, “The share of women hired into leadership roles has seen a steady increase, from 33.3% in 2016 to 36.9% in 2022,” globally.

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The WEF worked in collaboration with LinkedIn, Coursera, WTW, and Hologic in obtaining unique data and new measures to track gender gaps. The share of women in leadership represents the total number of women holding Director, VP, C-suite, or Partner positions divided by the total number of men and women holding these positions. 

Women leaders

Compared to 2015 when there were only about 1 in 3 (34%) hires into leadership positions in the Philippines, 2022 figures saw it increased to 43%. Australia and New Zealand posted the second largest increase in the region from 34% in 2015 to 40% in 2022.

While there has been a rise in leadership position hiring, there are still more men holding higher leadership positions across industries than women. In the Philippines, men are 26% more likely to be promoted into leadership positions than women. 

The proportion decreases as women rise through the career ranks. “On a global average, there are only 27% of women at the Vice President (VP) level, and 25% at the C-Suite (CXO) level – two of the highest seniority levels in the workforce. In the Philippines, there are 40% at the VP level, and 32% at the CXO level, higher than the global average,” the report said.

Workplace barriers

“Women face more barriers in the workplace when compared to their male counterparts — they are currently underrepresented in leadership and are not being promoted into leadership roles at the same rate as men,” Feon Ang, Managing Director, APAC, LinkedIn, said in a media release. 

While there are more female leaders in industries where women are better represented in the workforce, their representation in leadership roles within these industries is not always necessarily higher than men. For example, in the Philippines, there are more women working in Education (62%) and only slightly more female leaders than male leaders (52%). In the Healthcare sector, there are more women (60%), but only 45% of women are in leadership roles.

“We need to do more to ensure that women in the workforce have equal access to opportunities,” said Ang. “Organizations and business leaders should look at solutions like internal mobility, and fair hiring practices with a focus on skills and flexibility. This will ensure that women are equal contributors at all levels in an organization.”