Why is gender diversity in leadership still a huge issue for Singapore?

One-third of female employees in Singapore (32%) believe their management team would prefer to promote a male candidate over an equally-capable female candidate.

This worrying belief is prevalent across Asia Pacific, where in Robert Walters' new whitepaper, more than half of women employees (52%), among a pool of 4,400 respondents in total, blamed this preferential trend for fewer women in leadership roles.

Indeed, four in five women across Asia Pacific (80%) attest to women being under-represented in leadership positions, a finding echoed by 75% of Singapore-based respondents. However, just 59% of male respondents across APAC shared this view, perhaps pointing to the heart of the issue.

[poll]

The whitepaper, titled Empowering Women In The Workplace, identified the top three reasons why women feel they continue to remain under-represented, and the above preferential treatment topped the list.

The second reason? Family pressures or commitments outside of work, said half of women (50%) as well as male (51%) respondents. The third most cited reason held the employer directly responsible - a workplace culture that does not actively foster diversity, inclusion and equality.

Lead photo / 123RF