Grant Thornton: U.S. in world’s lower third for women in business leadership
Russia, the Philippines and Lithuania earn top marks
One-third
of businesses worldwide still do not have any women in leadership
positions
CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–When it comes to the percentage of senior-management roles held by
women, the United States is far behind much of the world, including such
surprising leaders as Russia, the Philippines and Lithuania – according
to Grant Thornton’s Women
in Business 2016: Turning Promise into Practice report.
The annual report – released today for International Women’s Day – found
that women hold only 23 percent of U.S. business-leadership posts, a
lower percentage than 21 of the 36 other countries surveyed for the
report.
Globally, the percentages varied dramatically from nation to nation:
Russia held the top spot with 45 percent of senior-business roles
occupied by women; and Japan held the lowest spot at 7 percent.
| Country | Rank |
Percentage of women in |
Country | Rank |
Percentage of women in |
|||||
| Russia | 1 | 45 | Singapore | 16 |
26 |
|||||
| Philippines | 2 | 39 | Spain | 16 | 26 | |||||
| Lithuania | 2 | 39 | Finland | 21 | 25 | |||||
| Estonia | 4 | 37 | Australia | 22 | 23 | |||||
| Thailand | 4 | 37 | Botswana | 22 | 23 | |||||
| Indonesia | 6 | 36 | South Africa | 22 | 23 | |||||
| Latvia | 7 | 35 | United States | 22 | 23 | |||||
| Poland | 8 | 34 | United Kingdom | 26 | 21 | |||||
| China (mainland) | 9 | 30 | Turkey | 27 | 20 | |||||
| Georgia | 10 | 29 | Brazil | 28 | 19 | |||||
| Italy | 10 | 29 | Ireland | 28 | 19 | |||||
| Nigeria | 10 | 29 | New Zealand | 28 | 19 | |||||
| France | 13 | 28 | Argentina | 31 | 18 | |||||
| Greece | 14 | 27 | Mexico | 31 | 18 | |||||
| Sweden | 14 | 26 | Netherlands | 31 | 18 | |||||
| Armenia | 16 | 26 | India | 34 | 16 | |||||
| Canada | 16 | 26 | Germany | 35 | 15 | |||||
| Malaysia | 16 | 26 | Japan | 36 | 7 |
The report found some positive news for the United States, with the
percentage of senior roles held by women moving up to 23 percent from
last year’s 21 percent figure. However, the report also cautioned that
the proportion of U.S. businesses with no women in senior management is
almost one-third (31 percent) – a figure that mirrors the 33 percent
global number.
“The fact that about a third of businesses have no women in
senior-business roles speaks volumes,” said Erica O’Malley, national
managing partner of Employee Benefit Plans and People Experience at
Grant Thornton LLP. “It means a third of businesses still have no female
input into executive decisions and no women helping grow the business at
a leadership level.”
The report also points out that diversity is not just “the right thing
to do,” it’s also good business, and can improve the bottom line.
Previous Grant Thornton research cited in the report found that publicly
listed companies with male-only boards in the United Kingdom, United
States and India are forgoing potential profits of $655 billion.
So how can businesses change? According to O’Malley, part of the
solution may be to “stop relying on top-down leadership structures and
move to ones that are more collaborative.” She also suggested that
companies could do more to make leadership appealing to women. This
includes “redefining leadership in recognition of the different ways men
and women view the skills good leaders need.”
The full Women in Business 2016: Turning Promise into Practice
report offers additional recommendations to help businesses turn
diversity promises into reality. It is available at www.GrantThornton.global
– and an infographic of the country rankings is available at grantthornton.com.
The report’s findings are drawn from data collected quarterly for the Grant
Thornton International Business Report.
Notes to editors
The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) launched
in 1992 initially in nine European countries now provides insight into
the views and expectations of more than 10,000 businesses per year
across 36 economies. For more information, please visit: www.GrantThornton.global.
Data collection
Data collection is managed by Grant Thornton’s core research partner,
Millward Brown. Questionnaires are translated into local languages with
each participating country having the option to ask a small number of
country specific questions in addition to the core questionnaire.
Fieldwork is undertaken on a quarterly basis. The research is carried
out primarily by telephone.
Sample
The Grant Thornton International Business Report is based on a
survey of both publicly-listed and privately-held businesses. The data
points for this press release are drawn from interviews with 5,520 chief
executive officers, managing directors, chairmen or other senior
executives from all industry sectors conducted between July and December
2015.
About Grant Thornton LLP
Founded in Chicago in 1924, Grant
Thornton LLP (Grant Thornton) is the U.S. member firm of Grant
Thornton International Ltd, one of the world’s leading organizations of
independent audit, tax and advisory firms. In the United States, Grant
Thornton has revenue in excess of $1.4 billion and operates 58 offices
with more than 500 partners and 6,400 employees. Grant Thornton works
with a broad range of dynamic publicly and privately held companies,
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organizations.
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of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL). GTIL and the member firms
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for further details.
Contacts
Grant Thornton LLP
Adam Bond, 312.602.8332
adam.bond@us.gt.com
