*NEWS*’NO WOMEN CHIEFS’ IN 38% OF FIRMS

[Anonymous]

‘No women chiefs’ in 38% of firms
Almost
four in 10 businesses worldwide do not employ a female in a senior
management position, a survey suggests.The number of firms without a
woman in a top role is unchanged from four years ago, the report by
Grant Thornton said.Published on International Women’s Day, the study
said that only 25% of Japanese companies had a woman in one of its main
positions.A separate study reported a 40% drop in women in senior
management roles at UK FTSE 350 firms between 2002 and 2007.A new-found
entrepreneurial streak and the surging cost of childcare may be
responsible for that trend said Sarah Churchman, head of diversity at
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which commissioned the report.”They are
creating problems for the future,” she told The Guardian. “Women are
exiting corporate life.”

‘Disappointing’
The Grant Thornton study said that 64% of UK firms had at least one woman in a top-level role.

COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN SENIOR MANAGEMENT
1. Philippines – 97%
2. China – 91%
3. Malaysia – 85%
4. Brazil – 83%
5. Hong Kong – 83%
Source: Grant Thornton

This
was less than Greece (73%), mainland China (91%) and the Philippines
(97%).The executive director of public policy for Grant Thornton
International, April Mackenzie, said the finding that just 38% of
businesses had a woman in senior management was unchanged from a
similar study in 2004.”It is disappointing that the participation of
women in senior business management has not increased more dramatically
over the last three years,” she said.”It is, however, encouraging to
see some of the Asian economies leading the way.

In Britain thousands of women remain in poverty and all women workers suffer from the gulf of pay between men and women
Diana Holland TGWU

“North American and European businesses in particular continue to lag behind.”

Imbalance
Earlier
this year, a report by the Equal Opportunities Commission said that
only 10% of directors of the UK’s FTSE 100 firms were women, while
under 20% of people in parliament were female.Change had been
“painfully slow” in recent decades and ethnic minority women are
notably missing in top roles, it said.The commission calculated that,
to begin redressing the imbalance, a further 6,000 women should be in
top positions.  
 
COUNTRIES WITH LOWEST PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN SENIOR MANAGEMENT
1. Japan – 25%
2. Netherlands – 27%
3. Luxembourg – 37%
4. Germany – 41%
5. Italy – 42%

It
added that to counter the discrepancy between men and women in top
roles, everyone should have the right to request flexible working.
More
high-quality, well-paid flexible and part-time work also needed to be
available, it said.Meanwhile, the UK Transport and General Workers
Union on Thursday called for a further increase in the national minimum
wage to narrow the poverty and gender pay gap.”All over the world
people will be celebrating the achievements of women and campaigning
for gender equality,” said Diana Holland, the union’s organiser for
women, race and equalities.”Yet in Britain thousands of women remain in
poverty and all women workers suffer from the gulf of pay between men
and women.”At current trends, young women will be nearing the end of
their working lives when the pay gap closes and their great
granddaughters will be in their forties before the part-time pay gap
closes.”

[Author]

March 9, 2007 at 11:08 AM