Women still face a huge gender gap in the workplace.
文|Ketharina Bushlz
According to the International Labour Organization, people working in Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Jamaica are most likely to have a female boss. The latest data from 2022 to 2023 show that in Burkina Faso and Nigeria, between 67% and 70% of managers are women. Jamaica and Botswana are the only two other countries with data showing that there are more female managers than male managers, accounting for about 60 per cent and 52 per cent respectively.
The Philippines, the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia, Jordan and Zambia are also countries with high representations of women in managerial positions. Although these four countries rank in the top 10 of the countries with the most women in management (out of about 100 countries for which data are available in recent years), none of these four countries achieve gender parity in managerial positions, which is a clear indication that women still face a large gender gap in the workplace.
This chart shows the countries with the highest percentage of female managers (2023 or 2022). Image source: STATISTA
In Africa, there is a high level of female participation in business and entrepreneurship, which is why the continent has a large number of female managers. However, in Africa and elsewhere, women managers tend to exist only in areas that are generally considered to be dominated by women, such as human resources, administration, finance, marketing or public relations – areas that the ILO defines as corporate support functions. The outsourcing industry in the Philippines, for example, that provides such services is associated with a high proportion of female managers in the country.
Starting and running their own company is also a common option for many women in countries with less developed formal labor markets. As a result, they often lead smaller firms and companies they have founded, thereby increasing the number of women managers in developing countries. However, this demand-driven entrepreneurial spirit does not necessarily mean that there will be more women represented in the senior management of large companies, in important government positions, or in more weighty investment rounds.
Volatility caused by the pandemic
In 2022, the overall proportion of female managers in Africa was 38% (compared to 40% in low-income countries), and during the pandemic, this proportion rose by about 2 percentage points. The pandemic has temporarily increased the proportion of female managers in many low-income countries, likely because the pandemic has forced more women to work independently.
As of 2022, the percentage of female managers is also high in Eastern Europe, close to 42%, 40% in North America, 39% in Southeast Asia, and 38% in Northern Europe.
The Middle East and North Africa region has the lowest percentage of female managers, at just over 15%. However, Jordan is one of the countries with the most female managers, also thanks to those fields that are dominated by women. The ILO writes that Jordanian women's dominance in education, such as school and kindergarten principals, has pushed up the proportion of female managers in the region, which would otherwise be in the single digits.
Other countries in the region are also among the countries with the fewest female managers, including Morocco (12.4%), Qatar (13.8%) and Egypt (14%). The lowest ranked countries also include Bangladesh (7.3%), India (12.6%) and, surprisingly, Japan and South Korea (14.6% and 16.3%, respectively). As in countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where extremely traditional gender roles in daily life and in the workplace hinder women's development.
The highest-ranked country in Europe is Belarus, with more than 46% of managers being women. This is followed by Latvia, Russia, Moldova and Poland, which have between 43 and 45 per cent of female managers. Elsewhere in Europe, the Nordic country of Sweden leads with 42% of female managers, followed by France with 40%.
The author of this article is a Forbes contributor, and the content of the article represents the author's own views only.
This article is translated from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2024/04/23/where-women-are-most-likely-to-be-your-boss-infographic/?sh=6e4544ce54a3
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Header image source: Getty Images
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