All over the world — whether acknowledged or not — women relentlessly contribute to societal growth, covering political, economic, and even cultural facets. Yesterday’s International Women’s Day was a welcome celebration of their achievements, but also a reminder of how much further we have to go in terms of closing the gender gap completely. There is still a large imbalance between men and women in terms of status and pay.
This year’s campaign theme is #PledgeForParity — taking concrete steps to hasten global gender parity by forging a change within our own circles of influence. This includes giving girls equal access to education and opportunities at work, calling for gender-balanced leadership, and eliminating sexism and bias in the workplace and beyond.
This call to arms perfectly coincides with a report published by US-based firm Grant and Thornton based on its annual survey of 5,520 businesses in 36 economies. Its findings have shown that only a quarter of senior management positions in businesses all over the world are held by women, and a little over a third of businesses don’t have women in senior management at all.
Even more surprising? Almost 40 percent of companies in G7 countries — those with the world’s best-developed economies! — have no women in senior management positions. This staggering lack can be attributed to deeply entrenched social norms, particularly the preference for a traditionally masculine leadership style.
There is, however, a silver lining to be found in this report. The Philippines, at 39%, has the second-highest percentage of female business leaders in the world, right behind Russia’s 45%. According to P&A Grant Thornton chairperson and chief executive officer Marivic Españo, “a well-established culture of women receiving further education and advocacy of the women in business cause has spurred change,”
Here at Bridge, we are strongly committed to gender-balanced leadership — people are placed in management because of their qualifications and work ethic, This explains why three out of six of our team leaders are women: Janna de Guzman, head of Client Success; Mita Veloso, team lead of Business Development, and Carla Mumar, head of HR Solutions. They are just as passionate, strategic, and fiercely hardworking as their male counterparts, and we couldn’t be prouder to have them on our team.
“Being a girl boss is just the same as being a boss. It’s not different because I’m a girl — it’s very challenging and there’s a lot of room for growth,” shares Mita. “We’re on a mission to make our clients’ work life better, even if it means that our work sometimes becomes harder. There’s a lot of pressure on each of us because we all have an important part to play, but that also means that each person has the power to make a huge impact in the direction of the company.”
“One of the things I love most about working here is that we have a great team — everyone is energetic, fun, and helpful, and we’re serious about what we want to accomplish together.”