More female CEO appointments are made in Australia and New Zealand than anywhere else.
The world seems to be getting slightly better when it comes to gender diversity in top management, according to a study published Thursday by executive search consultancy Heidrick & Struggles.
It analyzed 1,220 CEO appointments at large publicly listed companies in 2022 and 2023, of which 225 were made in the wider Asia Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand.
Small Improvement
Data indicated «slight growth» in gender diversity among CEOs worldwide, with 8 percent of all appointments going to females. Asia Pacific, for its part, made «great strides» in gender parity, with 12 percent of appointments being female.
However, Australia and New Zealand topped the region entirely, as their quotient of female appointments was 15 percent, double the global average. It was also better the quotient of similar appointments in the Americas, Europe, and Africa.
Closer to Home
Trends diverged substantially in the major financial hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore. Singapore kept the proportion of female CEO appointments at 13 percent, the same level as the previous analysis it conducted. By contrast, the proportion in Hong Kong was 8 percent, at the same level as the global average, but falling behind the pace seen in other Asian markets.
«Given a significant proportion of Heng Seng Index companies are from traditionally male-dominated industries such as finance and properties, only 8% of appointed CEOs are female in Hong Kong. This highlights the continued work needed to promote gender diversity and foster a more inclusive business environment,» the consultancy indicated in the media release.
Singapore Places First
Another finding from the analysis was that companies appeared to place more value in cross-sector expertise and regional exposure, with 32 percent of appointments in Australia and New Zealand being able to show cross-sector expertise on their CVs and 44 percent of them having cross-border experience. In Singapore, almost half, or 47 percent of CEOs had cross-border experience. It was the highest rate in the Asia Pacific region, and it also outpaced the global average of 34 percent.
In Hong Kong, the trend was similar but not quite as pronounced. Data indicated that 28 percent of appointments had cross-border experience and 19 percent cross-sector expertise. The survey also showed that companies in Asia Pacific preferred to make internal appointments, with Hong Kong having the lowest rate of external appointees at 21 percent.
Previous Qualifications
Singapore also tended to place CEOs from within their ranks, with 77 percent of appointments being made internally, a rate that was both above the region as a whole (65 percent) and globally (63 percent). In Hong Kong, companies were more open to hiring employees without top management experience (34 percent proportion) than compared with elsewhere in Asia (21 percent).
Here, Singapore differed substantially, as 90 percent of its CEO appointees had top leadership experience and 83 percent had a previous role as a CEO. Appointments in Hong Kong were also younger than elsewhere in the region, with 33 percent of CEO appointments being made under the age of 45, a slight decline from the previous survey’s quotient of 37 percent.
«On the other hand, Singapore has shown a strong preference for older, more experienced CEOs, with the current age of appointed CEOs being the highest across APAC at 57.2 years, in contrast to the trend of hiring younger directors observed in Hong Kong,» the consultancy maintained.
