Asian Journal, News Report, Posted: Mar 16, 2012

More Filipino women occupy senior business posts compared with other countries, a recent ranking made by international accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton showed.

Grant Thornton’s 2011 International Business Report, said the percentage of women in senior management positions in the Philippines grew four points to 39 percent, a level that tied with the Thailand and Botswana. These countries tended to have family structures that “provides for in-built childcare…allowing mothers to go out to work,” according to the report.

Russia tops the list of countries with the most number of female senior executives (46 percent), mainly due to sex ratios that favor women and government policies that promoted women to demonstrate “equal opportunity.”

Globally, the report found that 21 percent of senior management roles are held by women, only a slight uptick from 19 percent in 2004.

South East Asia (ASEAN) had the highest level of female participation (32 percent) – dipping slightly from levels three years ago – but still ahead of the EU (24 percent), Latin America (22 percent) and North America (18 percent). In the United States, 17 percent of women held senior executive posts.