A Philippino colleague contacted me recently about some of the work I was doing with work/family balance and women leaders, especially in regard to the issues that were raised in the March 2007 newsletter which celebrated International Women’s Day. She alerted me to the Grant Thornton International News Release of 8 March 2007 that indicated that 97% of businesses in the Philippines have women in senior management positions. In fact, the Philippines was the only country where women have parity with men in senior management roles. A number of other Asian countries are also at the top of the Grant Thornton list. The link to this news release is below.
http://www.internationalbusinessreport.com/main/index1.php?page=133&lang=&id=&country_id

What I found interesting in her comments, however, is that while they are so strongly represented in senior management roles there is not the legislative support for women in the workplace like we have here in Australia. There is no legislation around equal opportunity and flexible work practices to accommodate pregnancy and child rearing.

It is not likely that Australia will ever be in a position where we have those kinds of societal circumstances. It is high time, however, that we seriously look at more effective ways of supporting the 60% women who want to work and have families as well. This is not just about what women want. This is also about whether the country can afford not to have the professional talents and abilities of so many women not being used.