Paving the way for more women leaders

EACH year, International Women’s Day (Mar 8) celebrates the achievements of women around the world. It is also an opportune time to reflect on the different realities confronting women at work and how they have changed over the years, especially in the area of leadership.

Is there a glass ceiling for women leaders?

Corporates have achieved some progress in advancing gender parity in recent years. Globally, women’s representation on boards have risen 3.6 percentage points to 23.3 per cent since 2022, driven by a mix of government action and investor voting policies.

Despite these positive results, women remain a clear minority in corporate leadership. According to a report by Deloitte, women hold just 8.4 per cent and 6 per cent of chair and CEO seats, respectively. At this current rate of change, global gender parity for chairs and CEOs will only be reached in 2073 and 2111 at the earliest – almost 50 to 90 years from today.