UN study: Pacific women in private sector progressing

The UN theme for International Women’s Day is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 world” – a celebration of global progress towards women’s equal representation in leadership positions.
For the Pacific, discussion of women’s leadership has focused on women’s political representation, which at just 7 per cent is among the lowest in the world.
But data collection for a new research project suggests a brighter picture for the private sector, where the region is making crucial progress towards equal representation.
Preliminary data, collected as part of an ongoing study into Pacific women’s leadership in business by the Asian Development Banks’s Pacific private sector development initiative, finds the Pacific compares favourably with global averages across many measures of leadership.
The study measures women’s representation on boards and senior management positions in over 200 Pacific private sector organisations.
While varying significantly between countries and sectors, the average Pacific regional proportion of women on boards is 22 per cent, exceeding the global average of just 17 per cent.
Some sectors are higher.
In financial and ICT organisations, 24 per cent of board members are women, and in industry associations (such as tourism associations), 31 per cent of board members are women.
The Cook Islands, Palau and Samoa all have over 30 per cent representation of women on boards.
Women hold 30 per cent of senior management positions in the organisations studied, consistent with the global average.
In the Cook Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, the proportion of women in senior management was over 30 per cent.
Progress is particularly evident among the companies listed on the South Pacific stock exchange. – Lowy Institute/The Interpreter.