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Sponsored by
Mind
the gapsPerceptions of gender equality
in corporate Southeast Asia
A report from
The Economist Intelligence Unit

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© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
Preface
Mind the gaps: Perceptions of gender equality
in Southeast Asia is an Economist Intelligence
Unit (EIU) report, sponsored by The Hongkong
and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited,
Singapore Branch (“HSBC”). The findings and
views expressed here are those of The EIU
alone. Georgia McCafferty was the author of the
report and Laurel West was the editor. We would
like to thank all survey respondents for their
time and insights.

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© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
Introduction
Although significant advancements have
been made in improving gender equality in
the workplace in Southeast Asia, a number of
challenges remain if companies–and countries–
want to unlock the substantial economic benefits
that can be had from employing and promoting
more women in the workforce. The World Economic
Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2015
ranks 145 countries on women’s access to
resources and opportunities and highlights the
yawning fissures present in most Southeast Asian
countries, apart from the Philippines. Singapore
does relatively well, coming in at 54 on the
WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index, but Indonesia
languishes at 92 and Malaysia at 111, just above
Liberia (112) and Burkina Faso (114). The more
defined WEF Gender Gap Index for economic
participation and opportunity awards Singapore
an even better ranking (9), but Malaysia (95) and
Indonesia (114) still rank as economic gender
equality laggards.
The aim of this report, which is written by The
Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored
by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Limited, Singapore Branch
(“HSBC”), is to examine perceptions of this
gender diversity gap among working women in
Southeast Asia, at both senior and mid-levels
of management. The report looks at women’s
awareness of gender diversity in their own
organisations, asks the ways these women
believe any gap can be reduced and explores
whether mid-level women feel supported by
their senior female colleagues.
The findings are based on a survey of 300
female executives conducted by The EIU in
December 2015, with 100 respondents each
from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Half of these respondents work in middle
management positions, 32% in senior
management and 18% at a Managing
Director/General Manager or C-suite level1
.
*NB: Survey percentages in this report may
not add up to 100 due to rounding or respondents
being able to select multiple responses.
1
The respondents come from a wide variety of industries with 16% working in manufacturing, 10% in financial services or IT, 8% in construction and real estate
and 7% in professional services. Just under three quarters of these companies are local, and 26% multinationals. Two in five companies are headquartered in
Indonesia, 25% in Singapore, 22% in Malaysia, and the rest across the rest of the world. The organisations also range in size, with 31% of women from firms
with between 100 to 199 employees, 56% from firms with between 200 and 999 employees and 13% from businesses with 1,000 or more staff.

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4 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
Key Findings
There’s plenty of room for more women at the top
Clearly, women in Southeast Asia are less aware
of the problems of gender diversity at senior
management than in other parts of the world.
Yet the two-thirds or more of respondents who
rated things like giving advice and training
to women as important to closing the gender
diversity gap suggest they are starting to see
the need for change. Women in this part of the
world may feel less empowered to speak out
about the issue, but a slow awakening on the
importance of the management gender gap
does seem to be taking place.
There is a clear gender imbalance at senior
executive level among the Southeast Asian
companies surveyed. Women from both senior
management and mid-level positions estimate
that only around one-third of senior executives
in their organisations are women. Singaporean
organisations appear to be the most gender-
biased, with respondents estimating that just
26% of senior executives in their businesses are
women, compared to 32% in Malaysia and 34%
in Indonesia (see Chart 1).
Many respondents are unhappy with this lack of
equality at the top—49% of mid-level women
and 47% of senior executives believe women
are underrepresented in senior management at
their company. Not surprisingly, Singaporeans
feel this gender bias more strongly, with
56% of those respondents saying women
are underrepresented, compared to just
44% of women in both Malaysia and Indonesia
(see Chart 2).
The level of concern about the top-level
gender imbalance among these respondents
is far below that shown in places like America,
where 78% of women believe having more
female leaders in top positions at business and
government would have a positive impact on all
women’s lives, according to a 2015 survey by
the Pew Research Center2
.
2
Pew Research Center, Women and Leadership: Public Says Women are Equally Qualified, but Barriers Persist, January 2015
34%
32%
26%
Indonesia Malaysia Singapore
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Chart 1: What % of senior execs in your
company are women?

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5© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
Women may be deceiving themselves about pay equality
Women think they are not personally subject
to pay inequality compared to their male
colleagues but do believe other women are,
demonstrating either a significant level
of luck or ignorance when it comes to the
gender pay gap.
Almost half of all senior women estimate
their personal pay to be equal to that of
their male colleagues at similar levels and an
even more surprising 41% believe it is higher.
More than two-thirds of mid-level managers
also believe their pay to be equal or similar
to that of their male counterparts, although
only 17% of this group think their salary is
higher (see Chart 3).
In comparison, 39% of senior women and 37%
of mid-level women say they believe women as
a group do get paid less than men for doing the
same work.
Although views of the overall gender pay gap
are more realistic than respondent’s personal
assessments, both contradict empirical
evidence. Indonesian women are paid 38%
less than men on average across all levels
of employment, according to a 2014 Asian
Development Bank report3
. The average
Malaysian gender pay gap is 19% for women
in management and 21% for professionals,
according to the 2014 National Salary and
Wages Report. And in Singapore, women in
management or administrative positions are
paid 16% less than their male counterparts,
according to the Singaporean government’s
2014 Labour Force Report. The views also
stand apart from women’s perceptions in many
western countries, with the gender pay gap
cited as the number one workplace concern for
women in the US, Germany, France, Britain,
Canada and Australia, according to the 2015
Thompson Reuters “Women at Work” poll.4
3
Asian Development Bank, New Evidence on the Gender Wage Gap in Indonesia, September 2014
4
www.womenatworkpoll.com
47% 49%
Senior women Mid-level women
56%
44% 44%
Singapore Malaysia Indonesia
50%
60%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Chart 2: Women are still underrepresented in senior management at my company
Management Country

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6 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
The difference between the empirical
gender pay gap in Southeast Asian
countries and the perceived gender pay
gap may be due to a lack of knowledge
about colleagues’ pay, as well as the
larger number of family businesses found
in the region. However, the difference in
perceptions between women in Southeast
Asia and the West may also be a matter
of awareness, since the gender pay issue
receives more government and media
attention in countries such as the US, UK
and Australia than places such as Indonesia
and Malaysia.
39%
37%
Senior women Mid-level women
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Chart 4: Women still get paid less than
men for doing the same work
I think my salary is higher
I think that my salary is similar
I think my salary is lower
41%
48%
11%
17%
67%
16%
Senior women Mid-level women
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Chart 3: According to your estimation,
how does your salary compare to men
who perform jobs of similar seniority and
responsibility as you in the company?
Singaporeans face a large
gender gap, but are less
likely to help other women
More than one-third of
female executives from
Singapore (34%) say there
is a diversity gap at their
company, while 27% feel
there is no gap. Well over
half (56%) of Singaporeans
believe women are under-
represented in senior
management compared to
44% for both Indonesia
and Malaysia.
Only 54% of Singaporean
women feel it is their
responsibility to help
other women compared
to 69% for Malaysia and
74% for Indonesia.
Singaporeans are also more
likely to feel that women
who help other women
will be branded feminist
or sexist. Just 38% of
Indonesian respondents
and 42% of Malaysians feel
this way compared to 43%
of Singaporeans.

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7© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
The gender imbalance in terms of numbers may
be clear, but the degree to which women believe
this is due to inequality in the workplace is
not. Equal numbers of senior and mid-level
executives (30%) say there is a significant
gender diversity gap in their business that
favours men over women, but relatively large
numbers from each group—43% of senior
women and 39% of mid-level women—aren’t
sure. More than one-quarter of senior
executives and 31% of mid-level women said
there was little or no gender diversity gap in
their organisation. Similarly, only 27% of mid-
level respondents and 16% of senior women felt
reduced gender bias would help them be more
successful in their careers, a response that
ranked far behind other more tangible factors,
like receiving advice and training.
But while perceptions of gender inequality
in the workplace are not strong, Southeast
Asian women still feel gender-based pressures.
More than half the respondents from both
management groups think women have to do
more than men to prove themselves in the
workplace, with this belief stronger among mid-
management (61%) than senior women (51%)
(see Chart 6).
43%
7%
23%
3%
27%
13%
14%
39%
24%
7%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
5
4
3
2
1
Senior women Mid-level women
Chart 5: Thinking of your company, please
rate the extent to which your company
has a gender diversity gap that favors men
over women using a scale of 1 to 5
(1 means that there is no gender diversity
gap at all and 5 means that there is a very
large gender diversity gap.)
50%
59%58%
Singapore Indonesia Malaysia
50%
60%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Chart 6: Women still have to do more than
men to prove themselves in the workplace
Many women are unsure whether their workplace is biased
against women

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8 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
Importantly, the things women believe
improve gender diversity may often also
help individual executive women be better
employees. Respondents across both levels
of management rank being valued and
rewarded for their work as the most
important factor that could help them
achieve their professional goals, with
more insights into industry and business
strategy and working for a company
where there is no gender bias a close second
(see Chart 8). The importance of feeling
valued and rewarded and the emphasis
on training may suggest that women
in Southeast Asia, like their western
counterparts, could often undersell
their strengths and abilities.
Women at both levels of management in
Southeast Asia agree the most important
things a company can do to help close
or prevent any gender gap is give women
advice and training on specific leadership
skills, although mid-level women have
stronger feelings on this issue than senior
executives (see Chart 7). Women think
companies also need to value and recognise
women more for their work, as well as
demonstrate leadership commitment in
both words and action—in words, by
having senior management talk about
gender diversity to staff, and in action,
by promoting more women to leadership
roles. The creation of networking events,
and internal and external mentoring
programmes, are also seen as important.
Quotas for women gain the least support
of all possible remedies among respondents.
This could reflect the fact that more than
50% of respondents don’t believe women
are underrepresented in senior management
or it could also reflect the often complicated
debate around the effectiveness of
diversity quotas. However, although
quotas are the least popular method
of maintaining gender diversity, more
than 50% of women at both levels of
management still see them as important,
with six in 10 mid-level women in support
of board-level quotas.
Leadership training and greater support and recognition
for women are important tools to promote gender diversity
Indonesian women
feel the biggest sense
of responsibility to
help others
Although31%ofIndonesians
believe there is a gender
diversity gap that favours
men in their organisation,
36% say there is no gap.
Almost three-quarters
(74%) of Indonesians
believe it is their
responsibility to help
other women develop
their careers compared
to 69% for Malaysia and
54% for Singapore. They
also have a stronger belief
it’s their responsibility to
help close the gender gap,
with 73% of Indonesian
women agreeing this
is the case compared to
65% for Malaysia and
64% for Singapore.
This is also reflected
in the two-thirds of
Indonesians who believe
female executives are
best placed to help
other women rise up
the ranks compared to
50% for Malaysia and
56% for Singapore.

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9© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
50% 60% 70% 80%
Giving advice to women on specific leadership skills
Giving training to women on specific leadership skills
Helping women being more recognized / valued for their work within the company
Having senior management talk about their commitment to gender diversity to the staff
Making a firm commitment to promote women into leadership positions
Giving advice to women regarding the balance between work life and family life
Organizing events / conferences on women and leadership
Communicatinginternallyandeducatingstaffongenderbiasandsubtlebarriersforwomenthatpersistintheworkplace
Creating networking events for mid-level women to interact with senior management
Offering external mentoring programs for women
Creating formal internal mentoring programs for women
Introducing quotas of women on the board
Introducing quotas for female department heads
69%
75%
69%
73%
65%
71%
63%
71%
63%
69%
65%
68%
59%
69%
59%
68%
57%
69%
57%
64%
57%
63%
51%
61%
56%
53%
Senior women
Mid-level women
0% 10% 20% 30%
Being more valued / rewarded for the work I am doing within the company
Working for a company where there is no gender bias
Having more strategic and technical insights on my industry / on business strategy
Getting more responsibilities within my team / company
Being trained on the requirements needed for leadership roles
Acquiring more skills through training
Finding a solution to better combine work life and family life
Greater flexibility with schedule
Having a mentor that could guide me in my career
Getting a promotion
Finding a better job opportunity
Access to a strong network
Access to a strong network
20%
24%
16%
27%
27%
11%
14%
21%
16%
17%
17%
16%
15%
17%
15%
13%
16%
10%
12%
11%
9%
11%
7%
11%
11%
7%
Senior women
Mid-level women
Chart 7: What women believe their companies could do to maintain/improve the gender balance
Chart 8: Which of the following would help achieve your professional goals?

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10 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
often initiated such programmes, but only
22% of mid-level women agree (see Chart 11).
Overall, close to half (46%) of mid-level women
said they believe their senior female managers
are not doing enough to close the gender
diversity gap, and 31% were indifferent.
Women at both levels of management have
similar perceptions of the general gender
diversity gap in their organisations, but their
opinions on many specific issues are more
divergent. Only 42% of senior respondents
believe women are perceived as bossy when
they exert their leadership, compared to
53% of mid-level women. Just over half of
senior women believe they still have to do
more than men to prove themselves in the
workplace, yet 61% of mid-level women feel
this way (see Chart 10). They also differ on
how children impact career progression. Well
over half (55%) of mid-level respondents agree
that women who want to have children need
to sacrifice their career ambitions, compared
to 41% of senior women. Many of these
differences are understandable. Mid-level
women probably do need to do more to prove
themselves than those more senior simply by
virtue of their position within the organisation,
while the children of women lower down the
management ladder are likely to be younger
than those of senior women and therefore
require more compromise.
An area of divergence unlikely to be down
to age or seniority is the difference in the
level of professional support less senior
women believe they get from those higher up.
Although 38% of senior women say they have
pushed management for more female board
representation, only 24% of mid-level women
believe this to be the case. The same is true
for formal mentoring programmes for women,
where 40% of senior managers say they have
Women at lower levels of management have different
perceptions of gender diversity than those higher up
Malaysian women are in
the middle, except when it
comes to their schedules
Only 25% of Malaysians
believe their organisation
has a significant gender
diversity gap compared
to 24% who don’t believe
there is a gap. The majority
of women (51%) are on
the fence.
Only 50% of Malaysians
believe women are best
placed to understand
female executive careers
compared to 66% for
Indonesia and 56%
for Singapore.
The one area where Malay
women have a stronger
opinion is time — 22%
want better flexibility
with their schedules, while
only 10% of Indonesians
and 11% of Singaporeans
felt this would help them
with their career goals.
Totally agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Totally disagree
8%
19%
55%
38%
5%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Chart 9: Senior women in my company are
not doing enough

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11© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
10% 20% 30% 40%
% of senior women who say they do this frequently
% of mid-level women who say senior women do this frequently
Pushed senior management to ensure that women are represented on the board
Pushed senior management to ensure that some department heads are women
Created formal internal mentoring programs for women
Organized external mentoring programs for women
Attemptedtoeducatecolleagueson genderbiasandsubtlebarriersforwomenthatpersistintheworkplace
Organized events / conferences on women and leadership
Suggested to women more junior than me that they should ask for a promotion
Suggesting to women more junior than me that they should ask for a pay rise
38%
24%
28%
30%
40%
22%
28%
26%
40%
25%
32%
28%
27%
26%
30%
26%
40%0% 20% 60% 80%
Women who want to be mothers need to compromise on their career ambitions
Female executives best understand how to develop the careers of female executives
Women are more often perceived as bossy when they exert their leadership compared to men
Women still have to do more than men to prove themselves in the workplace
41%
55%
55%
59%
42%
53%
51%
61%
% of senior women who think that
% of mid-level women who think that
Chart 10: A gap in perceptions between mid-level and senior women
Chart 11: What senior women claim they do vs what mid-level women think is being done

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12 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
60% 65% 70% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Giving advice to women
on specific leadership skills
Giving training to women
on specific leadership skills
Helping women being more recognized /
valued for their work within the company
Giving advice to women regarding the
balance between work life and family life
Making a firm commitment to promote
women into leadership positions
69% 3% 16% 37% 28% 16%
5% 15% 35% 29% 16%
3% 14% 38% 26% 19%
4% 17% 39% 21% 19%
25% 18% 28% 17% 12%
69%
65%
65%
63%
I view this as part of my job and I have done this many times
I have done this many times
I have done this a few times
I have done this once
I have never done this
Chart 12: A wider gap
What women believe would help close/improve What senior women say they are doing
the gender gap
work-life balance, only 19% said they’d done it
many times as part of their job.
The results are more extreme when it comes
to advancing fellow women. Although 63%
of senior executives believe a company needs
to make a commitment to promote women to
leadership, only 12% say they have done it
often and view it as part of their jobs (see Chart
12). The contrast between what senior women
believe is right to do to foster gender diversity
and their view of their role requirements shows
that policies to reduce the gender diversity gap
are not being made a formal
part of senior management responsibility.
Interestingly, despite women from both sides of
management believing more talk and action is
required from senior leaders on gender issues,
senior women often see their actions to address
gender diversity as something they want to do,
rather than a formal component of their job.
More than three-quarters of senior women
believe it’s important to give advice and
training to women on specific leadership skills.
However, only 16% say they view this as part
of their job and have done it many times. And
while almost two-thirds of senior respondents
say they need to help women be more
recognised and give advice on maintaining a
Most senior women don’t see gender equality as part of
their formal responsibilities

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13© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016
Mind the gaps
Perceptions of gender equality in Southeast Asia
5
McKinseyCompany, Diversity Matters, 2015
6
The Center for Talent Innovation, Innovation, Diversity and Market Growth, 2013
7
IMF, Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity, September 2013
Conclusion
Perceptions of gender diversity among senior
businesswomen in Singapore, Malaysia and
Indonesia are surprisingly positive. They
believe around one-third of senior executives in
their businesses are women, they don’t believe
they are paid less than their male counterparts,
and only one-third of women believe there
are large gender diversity gaps. However, the
empirical statistics on the significant gender
pay gaps in these countries and the lack of
strong opinions on levels of gender equality
in their companies probably indicate a lack of
awareness of the issue among some women.
This could be due to less discussion and a lack
of government policies addressing gender gap
issues in these countries. Or it could be down
to the nature of the respondents, 74% of whom
work for local companies, many of which may
be family-owned and run. It could also reflect
the relative immaturity of the Malaysian and
Indonesian economies.
Gender diversity may not be top of mind for
many of these women, but the survey findings
suggest that female mid-level and senior
executives in these organisations need to be
more aware of the broad problems women face
in terms of representation and pay gaps and
ways in which they can help. More also needs
to be done to educate senior managers — both
male and female — about the ways diversity
gaps can be changed through leadership
and the proven financial benefits greater
gender diversity can bring. A significant
body of research—including recent reports
from McKinsey Company5
, the Center for
Talent Innovation6
and the IMF7
—all spell out
the improved financial success more gender
diverse companies experience in comparison
to those less so, as well as the proven, broad
macroeconomic benefits gender diversity can
have for a nation’s economy.
Adopting some of the factors women
executives identify as helpful to achieving
their personal professional goals, like more
training, support and increased understanding
of industry and business strategy, could also
help arm them with the tools and confidence
they need to better help other women more
effectively. It could also begin to address the
gap the survey shows presently exists between
mid-level women and those at more senior
levels of management.

14.
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