Gender equality incorporate leadership
Asia
2023

Highlights
On average, women hold 16% of board seats, 7% ofboard chair positions and 5% of CEO positions acrossthe entire region.
Bursa Malaysia leads the region with 26% of board seats
held by women. This performance is followed closely by
the stock markets of Vietnam (21%), Philippines (20%)
and Thailand (20%).
VNX (Vietnam), with 15%, has the highest percentage
of female board chairs, followed by IDX (Indonesia) with
13% and NEPSE (Nepal) with 11%. VNX (Vietnam)
has the highest percentage of female CEOs (12%),
followed by SET (Thailand) with 9% and SGX (Singapore)and PSE (Philippines) both with 8%.

MARKET MONITOR
SDG 5 - Gender Equality

In strategic collaboration with:On Bursa Malaysia, 44% of issuers exceed the 30%
female board participation threshold. For the exchangesof Vietnam and Thailand, more than 20% of issuers
exceed this threshold.
With support from:

All-male boards persist as a significant proportion ofboards in most markets in the region with 10 out of 17
markets having more than 20% all-male boards.

Market Monitor: Gender equality in corporate leadership - Asia analysis

Introduction
This review of 1,700 Asian companies grouped by primary listing venue, provides exchanges, regulators andpolicy makers with the state of gender equality in the leadership positions of companies listed on their markets.
UN member States have agreed through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that gender equality is an
integral element of sustainable development. SDG5 explicitly addresses gender equality, and gender equality isfurther integrated as a cross cutting issue in a total of 10 different SDGs.1 Stock exchanges, regulators and othercapital market participants can play an important role in promoting gender equality through their own
gender-inclusive practices, market education and promoting gender-focused products and applicable reporting.2
This UN SSE Market Monitor has been prepared with IFC and UN Women, with the support of the Governmentof Luxembourg. This paper is part of an annual series launched in 2021 that serves as a benchmark forexchanges and other relevant institutions in their efforts to promote women’s full and effective participation in,and equal opportunities for, corporate leadership positions. The data serves as a benchmark for exchanges andother relevant institutions in their efforts to promote women’s full and effective participation in, and equal
opportunities for, corporate leadership positions.

1See Annex 3 of the SSE-IFC publication How exchanges can advance gender equality for the full list of indicators
For an action plan with key activities stock exchanges can do to advance gender equality, see the joint SSE-IFC publication How exchanges
can advance gender equality

22SDG 5 - Gender Equality

Market Monitor: Gender equality in corporate leadership - Asia analysis

Ranking of Asian exchanges
The table below ranks Asian stock exchanges based on the gender balance of issuers’ boards, by % of board seats
held by women.
Analysis of the top 100 issuers by market capitalization from each exchange.

Stock exchange
MarketExchange

Mandatory
minimum % Firms
rule forwith at % Firms% Board women least 30% with all
maleseats held on boards women
by women (Number) on board boards

1 Malaysia

Bursa Malaysia

26

2 Viet Nam

Vietnam Stock Exchange (VNX)

3 Thailand

1% Chair % CEOposition position
held by held bywomen women

44452212630

15

12

Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)20

989ipsum
4 Philippines

Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE)

20

10024
1018

13

785 Singapore

Singapore Exchange (SGX)

18

18

9

86 India

32
17

10

1

68

67 China

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
SIX
Swiss Exchange(SIX) (SZSE)
Shenzhen
Stock Exchange

17

17

14

6268 Japan

Japan Exchange Group (JPX)

32
171122638

11615

21

75AVERAGE

19 Bangladesh

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE)

1519258610 Bangladesh

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE)

1515269611 China

Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX)

14113286512 Nepal

Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE)

131*

626

11213 Sri Lanka

Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)

13733

3

314 Indonesia

Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX)13174713615 Pakistan

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)

1326

3

216 China

Shanghai Stock Exchange

121033

2

117 Korea (ROK)

Korea Exchange (KRX)

10334

12SPECIFIC KEYWORD / SEARCH TERMS

11Source: UN SSE, based on data from Bloomberg and companies' latest FY annual reports.
Note: Sample size for each market was the top 100 issuers by market capitalization.
*Nepal’s Companies Act of 2006 calls for “at least one female director on the boards of public companies with one or more female shareholders.”

Corporate Board Gender Equality in Asia
The Malaysian stock market, Bursa Malaysia, led the list with 26% of board seats held by women.
This performance was followed closely by the percentage of women on boards in companies foundon the stock markets of Vietnam (21%), Philippines (20%) and Thailand (20%).
On average, women hold 16% of board seats across the entire region.

3SDG 5 - Gender Equality

Market Monitor: Gender equality in corporate leadership - Asia analysis

This report includes data on the percentage of firms in a market that have at least 30% of board seats held bywomen. The level of 30% is seen as the level at which women’s participation in the board reaches a criticalmass. Internationally, civil society groups such as The 30% Club3 use this as a benchmark, noting that it
represents a floor rather than a ceiling for women’s participation. On Bursa Malaysia, for example, 44% ofissuers exceed this 30% female board participation threshold. For the exchanges of Vietnam and Thailand,
more than 20% of issuers exceed this threshold.
3All-male boards are a minority in every market in Asia analyzed, but do persist as a significant proportion ofboards in most markets in the region with 10 out of 17 markets having more than 20% all-male boards.
In some Asian markets not included in this study, there is insufficient disclosure of basic corporate governancedata, including consistent disclosure of board members.

CEO and Chair Gender Equality in Asia
VNX (Vietnam), with 15%, has the highest percentage of corporate boards chaired by women, followed by IDX(Indonesia) and NEPSE (Nepal), with 13% and 11%, respectively.
VNX (Vietnam) also has the highest percentage of female CEOs in the region among its top 100 companies(12%), followed by SET (Thailand) with 9% and SGX (Singapore) and PSE (Philippines) both with 8%.
On average, women occupy 7% of board chair positions and 5% of CEO positions in the Asian markets
included in the study. Every country in this study has at least one woman holding the position of CEO or Chair
in a publicly listed company.

Regulatory Developments
Five exchanges in this study are subject to rules requiring a mandatory minimum number of women on
corporate boards. Of these five markets with regulatory requirements, all of them have a mandatory minimumof one female board member. These markets are Bursa Malaysia (Malaysia), NSE/BSE (India), HKEX (China),
PSX (Pakistan) and KRX (Republic of Korea).
The practice of specifying a number of women on boards (as opposed to a percentage) contrasts with othermarkets outside this region whose rules specify a percentage. Note that the average board size in the Asianmarkets included in this study ranges from a low of 6 to a high of 12. In this context, a rule based on an absolute
number of women on boards will have very different proportional effects in different markets. The averageboard size of the top 100 issuers on KRX (Korea) for example is 8 board members, making a mandatory
minimum of 1 woman translate into 13%. For issuers on PSX (Pakistan) and Bursa Malaysia, the averageboard size is 9, translating a mandatory minimum of one woman into 11% representation. For HKEX (China)
and NSE/BSE (India) issuers, who have an average board size of 11, the mandatory minimum of one
woman equals 9% representation.
In January 2022, Bursa Malaysia supplemented their previously voluntary targets in an effort to eliminate all
male boards by requiring all listed companies to have a minimum of one female director on the board by June
2023.4 The revised Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance 2021 by the Securities Commission Malaysia
recommended that all boards should comprise at least 30% women directors. Similarly, the Institutional
Investors Council Malaysia in their Malaysian Code for Institutional Investors 2022, clearly laid expectations forinvestee companies to comprise at least 30% women representation on their boards by 2025.
HKEX (China) became the first exchange in the world to ban single-gender boards for new IPO applicants inJanuary 2022. All issuers on the exchange are expected to comply with this rule by the end of 2024.5330percentclub.org
Bursa Malaysia (2023) Bursa Malaysia applauds progressive PLCs for embracing board gender diversity and censures PLCs with all-male boards.
5HKEX (2022) HKEX Insight “Exploring the Future of Markets: Part 2 – ESG Becomes Part of the DNA of Markets”

4

SDG 5 - Gender Equality

4Market Monitor: Gender equality in corporate leadership - Asia analysis

Creating a Benchmark for ProgressThis report contributes to a joint UN SSE and IFC research programme, in strategic collaboration with UNWomen, to provide boardroom and senior leadership gender equality data organized by primary listingvenue. The annual data collection in this program allows stock exchanges to view their market’s progressyear-on-year. The SSE will seek to expand this program to collect data on all of its more than 100 SSE
Partner Exchanges.
Tracking the gender balance of issuers’ boards, leadership positions and related data, provides a usefulbenchmark for exchanges and other key stakeholders to assess progress in promoting gender equality
among listed companies. Collaborating with stock exchanges, as well as other relevant internationalorganizations and local partners, the SSE will use this benchmark to guide its technical assistance andtraining programmes.

Methodological Notes
The Asia analysis examined the gender balance of the boards of the largest 100 listed companies by market capitalization oneach of 17 exchanges in Asia. Regions referenced in this report are based on the UNSD definitions of region, sub-region andintermediate region. The study excluded exchange-traded funds and secondary listings of subsidiary companies sharing thesame board as another listed company in the study. These criteria resulted in a sample of 1,700 companies listed across 17markets. For each of these companies, UN SSE researchers examined the general board size and composition and the genderof C-suite personnel. The information was collected in Q1 and Q2 2023 using publicly available information provided by companies in their latest available annual reports, on their websites, as well as company-specific information available in the Bloomberg
data terminal. If conflicting information was available through these sources, the latest recorded datapoint was given priority overolder information.

5SDG 5 - Gender Equality

Market Monitor: Gender equality in corporate leadership - Asia analysis

Statistical Annex
Asian stock exchanges by gender balance of issuers' boards(Percent of positions held by women among top 100 issuers by market capitalization)

Source: UN SSE, based on data from Blomberg and companies' latest FY annual reports

SDG 5 - Gender Equality

6

Acknowledgements

About IFC

The report was prepared by: Anthony Miller (SSECoordinator), Lisa Remke (SSE Deputy Coordinator),and Loty Salazar (Lead, IFC’s Women on Boards & inBusiness Leadership Program). Additional peer
Acknowledgements
review and draftingwas provided by Tiffany Grabski(SSEAcademyHead),
VaninaProject
The report was prepared
by:Vegezzi
Anthony(SSEMiller(SSEOfficer)
and Corli
Le Roux(SSESeniorSpecialist).
Coordinator),
Lisa Remke(SSEDeputyCoordinator),
andSSE
ResearchAssistants
JaneQing
Yu
andAnson
Loty Salazar (Lead, IFC’s Women on Boards & in Business
Yat
Fund Tam
played Additionala crucial rolecompiling
moreLeadership
Program).
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17,000data
points.
JaneQing
Yu
providedwas provided by Tiffany Grabski (SSE Academy Head),
additional
statisticaland drafting
Vanina Vegezzi(SSE analysisProject Officer)
and Corlisupport.
Le RouxTheSSE
gratefully
acknowledges
datacontributions(SSE Senior Specialist). SSE Research Assistants Janefrom
DesignSylvana
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Yu and AnsonSSE
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played a crucialrole inKempka
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