Filipina-led firms among the World’s top 10

In the 2021 Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI) report entitled “Women CEOs: Opening Doors to Boards and C-Suites,” 4 of the top 10 women-led companies with the highest percentage of female executives were Filipino firms.

The corporations are as follows

• SSI Group, Inc.

• Victorias Milling Company, Inc. (VMC)

• Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC)

• Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI)

They are led by Zenaida R. Tantoco, Minnie O. Chua, Lourdes Josephine Gotianun-Yap, and Robina Y. Gokongwei-Pe respectively.

Of the four Filipino firms included in the list, the SSI Group, Inc. ranks first with 80% of its management composed of women. They are followed by VMC at 60%, and then by FDC and RRHI who are both at 50%.

What is the CWDI?

The CWDI is a project of the Globewomen Research and Education Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, USA.

They stand to

1. promote increased participation of women in corporate boards globally

2. foster national and international networks to connect women directors

3. hone directors’ skills in corporate governance

They have been conducting research in line with their mission since 1996, producing studies and reports much like 2021’s “Women CEOs: Opening Doors to Boards and C-Suites.”

What are the Report’s Key Findings?

Covering 55 countries, the CWDI report was conducted “to generate baseline data on women in leadership roles.”

Of the 2,994 publicly-listed companies included in the report, only 143 are led by female Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). Since 2011, the percentage of female CEOs has only increased by 1%.

In all regions covered, major economies, including Japan, Germany, and China, do not have or very scarcely include women-led blue-chip companies.

The report found that women-led companies have, on average, more women on their Boards of Directors and in Executive Officer positions than the male-led companies included in the study.

The percentage of women board directors increased from 21.9% to 34.1% following the appointment of a female CEO while that of women executive officers rose from 24% to 36.4%.