Companies need to go the extra mile to rope in more women

OVER the last 50 years, Singapore has fared well on many fronts when it comes to gender equality. Singaporean women today have equal access as men when it comes to areas such as education, health care, jobs and protection from violence.

All these factors have, and will continue to be, crucial to the country's economic progress down the road. According to Singapore's labour force statistics for 2014, the employment rate for women is at one of its highest levels on record - 76 per cent for the prime working ages of 25 to 54.

One area where Singapore has not scored so well, however, is the number of women in corporate boardrooms. According to a new report released on Wednesday by Deloitte Global, women here take up just 9 per cent of all board seats, which is not only low but also below the global average of 12 per cent. Only 7 per cent of leadership positions in Singapore's boardrooms are held by women, higher than the worldwide average of 4 per cent, but this is hardly a number to be proud of.