Over 90% of Mainland China Companies Include Women in Senior Management

Over 90% of Mainland China Companies Include Women in Senior Management

March 07, 2007

    HONG KONG, March 7 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The latest
findings from the Experian(R) Grant Thornton International
Business Report (IBR) 2007, released today ahead of
International Women's Day on 8 Mar 2007, reveal that 91% of
mainland China companies have women in senior management
positions, taking the 2nd place after the Philippines (97%)
among the 32 countries/regions surveyed (see table 1). 

    "Despite some people's perception about
traditional sexism in the Chinese society, it is positive
to note that nowadays nine in ten businesses on the
mainland have women in senior management. Both Hong Kong
and Taiwan also have a high proportion of businesses with
women in senior levels, at 83% and 80% respectively.  The
findings suggest that China businesses focus on capability
and performance when appointing senior management, but not
the gender," said Mrs. Alison Wong, partner of
specialist advisory services at Grant Thornton. 

    These figures revealed for the three places across two
shores position China ahead of many major western
countries, such as the US (69%), Canada (66%) and the UK
(64%), where gender equality is generally perceived as well
established. 

    "In fact, countries in Asia tend to have a higher
proportion of businesses with women participating in senior
management. Apart from China, almost all surveyed countries
in Asia have more businesses with women in senior levels
than the global average of 65%. The major exception to this
is Japan at 25%.  Obviously Japan is unique in the cultural
perception about women in business and women's role in the
family as compared with other parts of Asia," said Dr.
William Thomson, Experian's global economic director.

    Percentage of women in senior management roles
    The percentage of women in senior managerial positions
reveals similar rankings of the 32 surveyed
countries/regions, with the Philippines taking the first
place (50%) and Japan ranking the lowest (7%).  The three
places across two shores have more women in senior
management than the global average of 24%, with the
mainland in 6th place (32%), Hong Kong in 4th place (35%)
and Taiwan in 9th place (29%).  (See table 2).

    "It is encouraging that, when compared with
results of the same research carried out in 2004, it is
encouraging to see that Hong Kong has experienced increased
female representation in senior management in
businesses," commented Dr. Thomson.

    "However, while the findings reflect an upward
trend of percentage of women in management roles for many
economies, there is only one country, the Philippines,
achieving true parity in male/female share in management. 
Hopefully, we will see similar equality in other places in
the coming years as more women play -- such as Wu Yi,
Vice-premier of The State Council of the People's Republic
of China; Cheung Yan, Chairman of Nine Dragons Paper
Holdings Ltd; Indra Nooyi, the new CEO of PepsiCo; Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines; Angela
Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany; S¨¦gol¨¨ne Royal,
President of France and Hilary Clinton, candidate for
president in the US presidential election of 2008 --
increasingly prominent roles in public life," added
Mrs. Wong.


    Table 1.                                               
             
    Proportions of companies with women in senior
management 
    (% of respondents)                                 
    #                                2007      2004 
    1        Philippines              97        85 
    2        Mainland China           91         - 
    3        Malaysia                 85         - 
    4        Brazil                   83         - 
    5        Hong Kong                83        74 
    6        Thailand                 81         - 
    7        Taiwan                   80        67 
    8        South Africa             77        74 
    9        Botswana                 74         - 
    10       Russia                   73        88 
    11       Greece                   70        73 
    12       Sweden                   69        60 
    13       United States            69        75 
    14       Singapore                67        66 
    15       Canada                   66        64 
    16       Australia                64        70 
    17       UK                       64        62 
    18       New Zealand              63        69 
    19       Poland                   63        72 
    20       Spain                    62        47 
    21       Armenia                  60         - 
    22       Ireland                  60        64 
    23       France                   58        52 
    24       India                    56        41 
    25       Turkey                   54        57 
    26       Mexico                   52        76 
    27       Argentina                47         - 
    28       Italy                    42        48 
    29       Germany                  41        34 
    30       Luxembourg               37         - 
    31       Netherlands              27        27 
    32       Japan                    25        29 
             Global average           65        59 


    Table 2.                                               
             
    Women as a % of total in senior management
                                                           
                                 
    #                                2007      2004 
    1        Philippines              50        39 
    2        Brazil                   42         - 
    3        Thailand                 39         - 
    4        Hong Kong                35        26 
    5        Russia                   34        42 
    6        Mainland China           32         - 
    7        Botswana                 31         - 
    8        South Africa             29        26 
    9        Taiwan                   29        31 
    10       New Zealand              24        31 
    11       United States            23        20 
    12       Poland                   23        36 
    13       Malaysia                 23         - 
    14       Sweden                   22        18 
    15       Armenia                  22         - 
    16       Australia                22        22 
    17       France                   21        21 
    18       Ireland                  21        16 
    19       Singapore                21        23 
    20       Greece                   21        22 
    21       Mexico                   20        27 
    22       UK                       19        18 
    23       Canada                   19        22 
    24       Spain                    17        14 
    25       Turkey                   17        20 
    26       Argentina                16         - 
    27       Italy                    14        18 
    28       India                    14        12 
    29       Netherlands              13         9 
    30       Germany                  12        16 
    31       Luxembourg               10         - 
    32       Japan                     7         8 
             Global average           24        19 


    Source: Experian Grant Thornton International Business
Report (IBR) 2007


    Notes to editors

    About the Experian Grant Thornton International
Business Report (IBR)     
    Entering its 5th year, the Experian Grant Thornton
International Business Report (IBR) was carried out among
7,200 owners of medium to large privately held businesses
from 32 countries/territories during late 2006. Among them,
300, 250 and 150 medium to large privately held businesses
were surveyed in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
respectively.  IBR began in 2002 and builds on the European
Business Survey (EBS) which Grant Thornton ran from 1993 to
2001.  In 2007, the survey's name was changed from the
International Business Owners Survey (IBOS) to the
International Business Report (IBR).  The research was
conducted by Experian Business Strategies Limited and
Harris Interactive.  For more information, please visit
http://www.internationalbusinessreport.com .

    About Grant Thornton
    Grant Thornton is one of the leading accounting, tax,
and business advisory firms dedicated to serving the needs
of entrepreneurial and owner managed companies.  In Hong
Kong and mainland China, Grant Thornton has offices in Hong
Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, employing
in excess of 650 people. Grant Thornton in Hong Kong is a
member of Grant Thornton International -- one of the
world's leading organisations of independently owned and
managed accounting and consulting firms providing
assurance, tax and specialist advice to independent
businesses and their owners. Firms operate in 110 countries
in 520 offices with more than 22,600 employees.  For more
information, please visit http://www.gthk.com.hk .  

    About Experian
    Experian provides an unrivalled understanding of
consumers, markets and economies in the UK and around the
world, past, present and future. The business is a market
leader in consumer profiling and market segmentation,
economic forecasting and public policy research, supporting
businesses, policy makers and investors in making tactical
and strategic decisions. Experian's economic forecasting
arm, Business Strategies, has operations in sixteen
countries: UK, France, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Sweden,
Finland and Hong Kong -- China, Germany, Czech Republic,
Ireland, Greece, USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. 
For more information about Experian go to
http://www.experian.com.hk/ebs/ .

    For further information, please contact:

    Grant Thornton
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Services)
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     Estella Tsui (Marketing manager)	
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