Skip to main content

Women corporate leaders aspire to bigger roles, demand flexible working hours

Women executives aspire to climb the corporate ladder, but child-care responsibilities have created a speed-bump. Significant minorities report experiencing discrimination and exclusion from “old boys networks” in China and India. Women would like to have more flexible working hours as well as being able to take a few years break from work and re-enter smoothly. These are the findings from a pro-bono survey conducted by strategic market research consultancy Spire Research and Consulting in October 2014.

Spire’s survey of 300 female respondents holding executive and managerial positions in companies in China, India and Malaysia (100 per country) concentrated on the corporate aspirations of women, impediments they felt they faced and solutions they favored. The survey used a hybrid online and telephonic interviewing methodology.
98% of the women surveyed in India aspired to grow into a corporate leadership position. The comparable figure for both China (85%) and Malaysia (90%) is similar. It would appear that female executives are not comfortable with taking a back seat and want to advance professionally.

However very few women have been able to make it to the top positions in their respective organizations. This raises the question of what is slowing women down in the career space.

Of the three biggest challenges holding back these ambitions, inflexible working hours was the one that all three countries had most in common. This was followed by juggling childcare and work – a huge concern in China (85%), though a minor one in India (12%). Significant minorities (20% to 40%) cited discrimination as the third biggest impediment, with China and Malaysia recording this as far more significant than India. However in India, respondents did complain of an “old boy’s network” that held them back (38%).
Need for flexible working hours cited as a challenge
Interestingly, 45% of the respondents in Malaysia did not mention any difficulty with balancing their work-life obligations and considered their work environment healthy.
Another interesting finding was that only 12% of Indian female executives reported challenges from combining child-care and work.

Leveling the corporate playing field: What is to be done?

When it came to suggesting solutions to level the corporate playing field with men, most women highlighted flexible working hours with work-from-home options – 85% in China and 73% in Malaysia.

The next most commonly suggested solution was to have the freedom to also take a few years break from work and re-enter smoothly cited by 63% in India, 47% in Malaysia and 57% in China.
Mentorship programs for women leaders at work came third. This was highlighted as another attractive solution by respondents in China (45%) and Malaysia (51%).

Women in India offered various solutions that consisted of availability of childcare at work (26%) as well as company hotlines to report discrimination or harassment (27%). This might be an indication that women do not feel safe at their workplace or encounter compromising situations.

Role models drive excellence
Many women pointed to the dearth of competent women corporate leaders as a major stumbling block to success in their respective careers. With not enough female role models to look up to, women tend to underestimate their talent in contrast with men. Women in India (51%) and women in China (23%) denied having role models respectively.
Interestingly, 8% of the respondents in Malaysia looked up to family members such as mothers and sisters as role models – showing that role models need not be either famous celebrities or woman business leaders.
A minority of the women interviewed looked up to personalities such as renowned journalist Barkha Dutt (12%) and Managing Director of ICICI Bank – Chanda Kocchar (7%) in India, and Former United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton (12%) in China respectively.

Conclusion

The Spire study points to a gap between the ambitions that women have to be equal candidates for leadership in the corporate workplace, and the outcomes they are getting. While flexible hours and work-childcare issues were key impediments, significant minorities report discrimination and exclusion as well. Flexible working hours are a key solution that respondents offered, followed by the ability to take breaks for a few years and mentorship programs for female executives in the workplace.
Levelling the playing field between women and men is important not only for enabling the self-realization of women but also from the standpoint of the company and society – unshackling a tremendous leadership talent pool that is currently under-utilized.

Annex
Profile of respondents for China, Malaysia and India

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The ultimate precious cargo – Human organs

The transportation of human organs – especially a donor’s heart – is usually done by packing it in ice inside a cooler box and getting it to the hospital as quickly as possible. Transporters have to race against time. The heart is only viable and capable of being transplanted between 4 and 6 hours after death. But a lot can go wrong during such journeys – traffic jams, bad weather or mechanical difficulties can cause delays. In addition, a heart can be damaged if it is warmed up at the end of surgery; meaning it cannot be “tested” until the transplant operation is complete. The introduction of a new heart-preservation system is set to change all that. Manufactured by Transmedics Inc. in Massachusetts, it is specifically designed to pump oxygenated donor blood and keep the heart in “a warm, beating and functioning physiological state outside of the body”. Moreover, the heart can be monitored to keep beating for up to 12 hours. Should trials of this new system be successf...

Germany: The Eurozone’s economic powerhouse

Germany is the fourth largest global economy today. Its exports amounted to EUR107 billion in March 2015 – an all-time high since the 1950’s. Despite being the only European nation with a strong manufacturing base and rising employment rate, will Germany succeed to drive Eurozone’s stagnant economy? And what lessons does Germany’s economic success hold for the rest of the world? Germany’s resurgence With the second lowest unemployment rate in the European Union (EU) at 5.3 per cent, Germany’s economy has survived many setbacks. The economic success dates back to the Industrial Revolution due to the early adoption of coal production and rail transportation. Moreover, the fall of the Berlin Wall – the reunification of West and East Germany – and the expansion of the EU created huge market opportunities for Germany. Often regarded as the ‘Sick man of Europe’, Germany had almost lost hope of returning to rapid economic growth, undergoing recessions in 2003 and a dismal 1.2 p...

Spire shares business advice to start-ups on Indonesian market entry

On 17 July, Spire participated as a market advisor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Market Validation Program in Jakarta, Indonesia. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Spire Research and Consulting Group held sessions with Singaporean companies planning to expand their business into Indonesia. Jeffrey pointed out the utility of high-tech approaches for start-ups entering Indonesia, such as online advertising, usage of the Internet of things (IoT), data analytics and even Artificial Intelligence (AI). These approaches enable starts-ups to bypass mature importer-principal relationships that may be hard to overcome through conventional means. He also shared with individual companies his thoughts on developing customized strategies for Indonesian market entry. Get more information :  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-shares-business-advice-to-start-ups-on-indonesian-market-entry/

Asia-Pacific nations poised to sign the world’s largest multi-lateral trade agreement, RCEP, in 2020

After six years of negotiations, more than a dozen countries in the Asia-Pacific are poised to sign the world’s largest trade agreement, known as the Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP), in 2020. This agreement would boost commerce among participating countries by lowering tariffs as well as standardizing customs rules and procedures. The RCEP will widen market access, especially for those countries that do not have existing many bilateral trade agreements in place. Will India pay a price for its decision to stay out of the RCEP? Read more:  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/asia-pacific-nations-poised-to-sign-the-worlds-largest-multi-lateral-trade-agreement-rcep-in-2020/

2022: Recovery or Resurgence?

  The Covid-19 pandemic officially marks a grim second year this year. Nonetheless, there is some optimism among scientists that while the virus will become endemic, its threat to human life could reduce over time.  In the first of a three-part Spirethoughts instalment examining analysts’ predictions for the new year ahead, we look at 3 economic and social trends that are likely to affect the global economy in 2022.   Debt and inflation to grow . Global debt accelerated during the pandemic as governments continued to borrow. Twenty-five nations, including the US and China, now have total debt amounting to more than 300% of GDP, as central banks contribute to inflation by printing money, deepening the debt trap. Inflation, while on the rise, seems unlikely to hit the historic double-digit levels of the 1970s, as government spending should ease in 2022.   Industries overheat amid global warming “greenflation”.  The other continuing story with global imp...