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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Women falling from executive ranks, Australian study shows
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-28 17:20 SYDNEY – The number of women in executive roles in Australian companies has dropped sharply in the past two years, while only four females head a top 200 firm, a survey released Tuesday showed.
The findings of the government-backed study show Australia trailing the United States, Great Britain, South Africa and New Zealand when it comes to women breaking into senior management. It found the number of female executives employed by companies included on the Australian Stock Exchange's ASX 200 index has fallen from 12 percent to 10.7 percent over the past two years. The number of companies with no women executive managers has risen sharply to 45.5 percent, up from 39.5 percent in 2006, the census by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency found. While 54.5 percent of Australian ASX 200 companies have at least one woman in an executive position, this compares poorly to the US where 85.2 percent of companies do. In Canada the figure is 65.6 percent, Britain 60 percent and South Africa 59.3 percent. At the time of the study, only four women were chief executive officers of their ASX/200 companies. At the level of board director men outnumbered women by more than 10 to one. "At the 2006 census we described the pace of change as glacial, in 2008 the results show that women's progress is melting away," the director of the agency Anna McPhee said. "The dearth of women at the top levels of business is the result of fewer opportunities, hostile cultures and outdated work practices that haven't kept pace with women's increased education levels, experience and ambition to be among the people influencing Australia's future." McPhee said while more women than ever were participating in the workforce, they were overwhelmingly represented in the low-paid, low status roles. |
