More Filipinas hold executive positions

Is it true that more and more Filipinas hold executive positions in the country and even abroad? The answer is a resounding YES. If this is any indication about the state of women empowerment in the country, then I am personally happy about it. I am a self-proclaimed advocate for women empowerment, you know. In fact, my post-graduate thesis is a study about Muslim women's participation in organizational decision-making which ventured to look into the factors that enable such a situation for women to be accorded the highest honor of 'calling the shots' so-to-speak.

March is the Women’s Month, and what a better way to emphasize this celebration than with the result of the research study conducted by Grant Thornton International, because in the report, Filipinas are showing the world that what men can do they can do also, and in some ways better.

The Grant Thornton research showed that women hold 47 percent of senior management positions in the Philippines, comparing the statistics worldwide, they are leading by as much as 23 percentage points. “Women in the Philippines have really broken the proverbial glass ceiling, not only in the corporate world but also in the government,” said Lily Linsangan, Punongbayan & Araullo audit partner and business risk services group head.

From the data gathered from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), women have steadily taken over their male counterpart in the executive positions in the past several years. The year 2002 saw the ratio at 1.86 million females to 1.4 million males in the supervisory and executive positions. In 2006, this ratio has grown to 2.257 million women to 1.629 million men. This even grew to 2.281 million females to 1.677 million males in 2007.

Indeed, women are really making a big contribution in the corporate world as they occupy more managerial and executive positions.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world is not enjoying the opportunities that Filipino women are getting. There is still a large part of the world where women are having a difficult time climbing the corporate ladder. There are about a third or 34 percent of privately held businesses worldwide who do not have any women in senior management.

Some of the countries that are still not open to the idea of providing equal opportunities to women, much more give them senior management positions included Japan, Belgium, Denmark, India, and Netherlands.

Our country too, despite the data presented above, still have some sectors where discrimination among women is still prevalent. That’s why we take off our hats to those who have reached such positions because they succeeded in spite of the existence of discrimination, whether implied or expressed.

Go, go Filipina. You can. You are trailblazers soon.