Being trained and certified of financial background or experiencedin the financial sector is seen as a catalyst for women to achieveboardroom positions in big corporations, heard a seminar on women andleadership recently held by the Association of Chartered CertifiedAccountants (ACCA) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
In fact,women now hold more corporate leadership positions than ever before.Vietnam has achieved encouraging progress in gender equality, evidencedby high rate of girl students at schools and female workers in thelabour force.
In the country, about 30 percent of corporateboardroom members are women, higher than the world average. However, thegender disparity in leadership positions remains quite large.Recruiting talented female leaders is increasingly competitive inbusinesses and in countries around the world, the Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry's Business Forum Magazine reported.
Speaking at the seminar, Nguyen Vinh Ha, Deputy Director of GrantThornton Vietnam, affirmed that the percentage of women in businessleadership is increasing, especially in the financial sector. Women playan increasingly important role not only in the family but also insociety.
She also gave a fact from a Grant Thornton report that a1 percent increase in female training will result in a GDP growth of 3percent; hence, training programmes for women are being increasinglycared and attended by women. Nevertheless, the rate of female workers isrelatively low. Up to 66 percent of enterprises surveyed said theirfemale employees account for less than 50 percent of their workforces.In many countries, women support programmes are not popular.
Explaining this reality, Ha said women still face a lot of barriers toleadership roles. Women still do most housework and have little time forcareer development. They sometimes lack confidence in businessactivities, lack good examples, or cling to pattern thinking.
Moreover,earlier retirement age also limits experience and skill accumulationsto advance to senior positions. Gender equality will bring success toboth development and business fields and changes can be made to havemore women to take on leadership positions, she noted.
According to experts at the event, women have different views from menin various issues. Empowering the engagement of women in leadershippositions and policy-making processes will help illustrate differentviews and perspectives of different issues when making decisions,whereas decisions and policies will be more comprehensive, especiallythose with effect on women.
Some experts disagreed with apredefined rate of women in forming a corporate leadership, saying thiswould lead to unfairness and non-transparency. Sometimes, this is themain barrier to women advancing to leadership positions.
MartinTurner, President of ACCA Global, said the finance function is such aspringboard for women. The financial sector has created a clearer pathfor career advancement for women, especially in companies that provideprofessional services.
Citing the report titled "Women inFinance: A Springboard to Corporate Board Positions", he said a numberof women seem to be more successful in corporate executive positions ifthey have experience in the financial sector.
According to thereport, 45 percent of corporate female executives have a functionalbackground in finance and 65 percent of them have experience in thefinancial sector while the respective rates of male executives are 26percent and 44 percent.
The report also shows that finance isthe language of the boardroom and the ability to communicate financialinformation establishes and builds credibility. It appears to validatethe suitability of women in considering them for a board appointment - aview especially expressed by the search consultant segment ofrespondents.
Emphasising the role of social connections toadvance their career, Turner concluded while there is a clear messagefrom executive search consultants and chairpersons that finance is afacilitator for a path to the boardroom, it is also clear that financialskills alone are not enough - women need to stretch their socialconnections and make themselves known to the places they want to work.-VNA
In fact,women now hold more corporate leadership positions than ever before.Vietnam has achieved encouraging progress in gender equality, evidencedby high rate of girl students at schools and female workers in thelabour force.
In the country, about 30 percent of corporateboardroom members are women, higher than the world average. However, thegender disparity in leadership positions remains quite large.Recruiting talented female leaders is increasingly competitive inbusinesses and in countries around the world, the Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry's Business Forum Magazine reported.
Speaking at the seminar, Nguyen Vinh Ha, Deputy Director of GrantThornton Vietnam, affirmed that the percentage of women in businessleadership is increasing, especially in the financial sector. Women playan increasingly important role not only in the family but also insociety.
She also gave a fact from a Grant Thornton report that a1 percent increase in female training will result in a GDP growth of 3percent; hence, training programmes for women are being increasinglycared and attended by women. Nevertheless, the rate of female workers isrelatively low. Up to 66 percent of enterprises surveyed said theirfemale employees account for less than 50 percent of their workforces.In many countries, women support programmes are not popular.
Explaining this reality, Ha said women still face a lot of barriers toleadership roles. Women still do most housework and have little time forcareer development. They sometimes lack confidence in businessactivities, lack good examples, or cling to pattern thinking.
Moreover,earlier retirement age also limits experience and skill accumulationsto advance to senior positions. Gender equality will bring success toboth development and business fields and changes can be made to havemore women to take on leadership positions, she noted.
According to experts at the event, women have different views from menin various issues. Empowering the engagement of women in leadershippositions and policy-making processes will help illustrate differentviews and perspectives of different issues when making decisions,whereas decisions and policies will be more comprehensive, especiallythose with effect on women.
Some experts disagreed with apredefined rate of women in forming a corporate leadership, saying thiswould lead to unfairness and non-transparency. Sometimes, this is themain barrier to women advancing to leadership positions.
MartinTurner, President of ACCA Global, said the finance function is such aspringboard for women. The financial sector has created a clearer pathfor career advancement for women, especially in companies that provideprofessional services.
Citing the report titled "Women inFinance: A Springboard to Corporate Board Positions", he said a numberof women seem to be more successful in corporate executive positions ifthey have experience in the financial sector.
According to thereport, 45 percent of corporate female executives have a functionalbackground in finance and 65 percent of them have experience in thefinancial sector while the respective rates of male executives are 26percent and 44 percent.
The report also shows that finance isthe language of the boardroom and the ability to communicate financialinformation establishes and builds credibility. It appears to validatethe suitability of women in considering them for a board appointment - aview especially expressed by the search consultant segment ofrespondents.
Emphasising the role of social connections toadvance their career, Turner concluded while there is a clear messagefrom executive search consultants and chairpersons that finance is afacilitator for a path to the boardroom, it is also clear that financialskills alone are not enough - women need to stretch their socialconnections and make themselves known to the places they want to work.-VNA
