The ‘Women Managers’ research conducted in the last quarter of 2022 by the independent auditing, tax, accounting and consultancy company Grant Thornton, with the participation of nearly 5,000 companies from 28 countries, including Turkey, examines the impact of changing company structures after the pandemic on women managers. Turkey ranks 13th among 28 countries with an average of 37 percent female managers.

While the rate of women in senior management roles is 32% globally, Turkey is 5 points above the global average with 37%. Since 2012, the rate of companies without female managers in Turkey has decreased from 24 percent to 7 percent every year. Nurcan Yıldırım, Partner of Grant Thornton Turkey Independent Audit Services, said, “Although this progress is pleasing for now, the social and economic effects of the earthquake we experienced on February 6 may be severe and these effects may be reflected in the ratio of female managers working in our country.”

Finance and human resources are the two roles in which women have the highest

According to the information provided by companies from Turkey participating in Grant Thornton’s research, the most active roles of female managers are finance (47%) and human resources (39%). These rates are in parallel with the global rates of 38 percent and 40 percent, respectively. According to the statements of the companies participating in the Grant Thornton survey from Turkey, it was seen that the priority management strategies to improve the gender balance were 50 percent to create an inclusive culture where employees could freely express their thoughts, ideas and questions, and 40 percent to work/life balance. Nurcan Yıldırım stated that 37 percent of the employees in the companies participating in the report from Turkey work in hybrid and 61 percent work in the office, and the companies attach importance to being in a cultural structure that observes the work/life balance, especially after the pandemic.

From 19 percent to 34 percent in 19 years

Research conducted by Grant Thornton International for 19 years sheds light on the gender diversity observed in senior management of participating companies. The results of this year’s research show that the number of female executives in the business world continues to increase, but this increase is slow. Another result of the global research is the hybrid, flexible or direct working from home that emerged with the pandemic period and continued in many businesses after the pandemic. In workplaces where these types of work are possible, 34 percent of women managers work in senior positions. On the other hand, the rate of women working at the level of senior executives remained at 29 percent in businesses that only work on an office basis. Nurcan Yıldırım stated that in order to ensure a gender-balanced culture in workplaces, it is necessary to adopt a determined and purposeful corporate behavior, to be transparent to employees, to focus on programs that promote gender equality and balance, to monitor hybrid/flexible and home-based working conditions and to make improvements. ‘ he underlined.

Southeast Asian countries are in the leading position

The proportion of female managers in Southeast Asian countries is higher than in other regions. The rate of female managers is 49 percent in Singapore and the Philippines, 40 percent in Malaysia, 39 percent in Indonesia, 37 percent in Thailand and 34 percent in Vietnam, which is above the global average. Countries in this group increased their average to 40 percent from 37 percent last year. Japan, on the other hand, shows the opposite situation by staying at the bottom of the list every year. Japan, which has a patriarchal structure, stands out as the country with the least number of female managers with a ratio of 16 percent.